The Essence of Life
by CrazyCatLady2244
Summary: The story is set after season 6. A tragedy brings a stranger into town. That stranger promises to be able to raise the dead. Although the power is real, it fails due to fate. So Emma and Regina must fall in love, and use magic to create a baby destined to be a goddess, in order to give Regina the power to bring Henry back.
1. Chapter 1

**This story Isn't mine. This story was written by a friend of mine, Stacy Roe. I co-wrote and edited the story with her. As she doesn't have an account, she asked me to publish the story on mine. So here** **y'all** **are. Enjoy!**

 **This story has a little CS in it so if you don't like that I don't recommend reading.**

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After Hades' death, the underworld was in disarray. In the chaos, some of the spirits managed to slip out to walk as ghosts among the living. One of these spirits was the spirit of a man who was wronged by both Rumplestiltskin and Regina, and was killed by Regina. This spirit, consumed by rage and vengeance, ended up in Storybrooke. There, he went after them both.

Tormented by the fact that he could not be seen by Gold, he screamed at him, and kicked and punched at him, but Gold did not notice. So the spirit went to Regina in the mayor's office, and tried to get her attention but like Gold, she could neither see nor hear nor feel the spirit as he passed ineffectually through her. He screamed as this frustrated him to no end and he stormed off to think.

Soon, the spirit found Henry, and remembered how much he meant to both Regina and Gold. The spirit thought that with Henry's power as the author, he might be able to see unfinished stories, and so, he may be able to see the spirits of those stories.

The spirit went to Henry's bedside in Regina's house, and aggressively pursued his desire to torment the boy with a loud, "Boo!"

Henry lurched awake, saw the man floating there, and screamed. Regina ran in, "Don't bother, she can't see me and will only send you away thinking you are crazy." The spirit told him.

Regina, in a worried tone, asked Henry, "What's wrong?" She thought it was just a bad dream but was worried it might be more.

Henry told her, "There is a ghost by my bed." The spirit floated over to Henry as Regina, whose voice was showing more concern now, "Henry, there is nothing there."

The spirit's voice, full of smug rage, told Henry, "Your grandfather killed my wife, and your mother killed my son, burned my farm down, then sent me to become a slave until a guard killed me.

"I want to make them suffer, but since they can't see me, I came to you. Your power as the author allows you to see me, and therefore, I can torment you. As you suffer and they can do nothing about it, they will suffer too. I will make sure you don't sleep and I will find every way I can to torment you. I will drive you mad until I can make you take your own life."

"Henry, terrified, screamed, "I would never do that." Then he turned to his mother frantic, and begged, "The ghost is threatening me. He says he will make me take my own life. Mom, I'm scared. Please help."

Now terrified herself, Regina quickly replies, "Henry, who are you talking to? What is going on?"

Regina, collecting herself, tried to comfort Henry by telling him, "Sweetheart, Ghosts can't do much to hurt you, they are more annoying than anything. Just go to sleep. We will deal with this in the morning." She got a blanket and pillow and curled up on a chair in his room, to make him feel safe, and to allow him to sleep. Henry was tormented by the spirit all night. It did not allow him any sleep, and several times told him things that made him cry. Try as they might, Henry got no sleep and for worrying about Henry, neither did Regina.

The next day, Emma, Regina, Gold, and Henry got together at Gold's shop to discuss the problem, and Henry told them how the spirit kept him up all night. They all agreed that Henry needed help, but frantic, they realized no one knew how to help him. Gold and Regina took off to their respective sources of magic, while Emma drove Henry to school and tried to comfort him by saying, "We just finished the final battle. So the worst is behind us. There is nothing that can hurt us now. Just be strong and it will be over soon."

While Henry was getting out of the car at school, the spirit snuck up on him and scared him, knocking him off balance and making him trip.

All day, the spirit made Henry jerk and twitch, making him a distraction to the class and keeping him from participating in school. In class, he would keep twitching in his seat and yelping in fear and in gym class, he kept tripping. He was so disruptive that he was sent to the principal's office and after explaining it to him, the principal sent Henry home early. Terrified, Henry left the school to head home and the spirit kept making him twitch and tripping him up. Henry began to run in hopes of outrunning the spirit. Then the spirit yelled, "Boo!" and Henry, startled, tripped and fell in front of a drunk driver who was too drunk to stop. The driver screeched to a halt but it was too late. He got out of the car, stood over Henry with his hands on his head, gripping his hair in shock, then started to scream for help.

Suddenly, Emma and Regina both jerked-to, and clutched their hearts, knowing in that instant exactly what had happened. They ran as fast as their legs would take them to Henry's side out near the clock tower and, even though they came from different locations, they both came upon him at the same time. With a glance, each one of them knew that the other knew, Henry was dead.

When Regina saw the body of her son on the pavement, she went berserk and began to attack the driver, swinging her fists furiously, and kicking, and threatening to use magic as the crowd tried to hold her back. Emma knelt at Henry's side, crying and screaming as she took him in her arms and rocked him back and forth, consumed with grief.

The spirit, content that his work was done, though disappointed it had not turned out with Henry taking his own life in madness, was able to move on and left.

In the morgue, all Henry's family stood around him. In a somber tone, Snow softly spoke to Regina, "There has got to be something you can do! It can't end like this."

Regina stated, "Magic can't bring back the dead. I'm sorry, he is gone."/

Emma pondered on how this could have happened to Henry and thought out loud, "He was the author, so he was meant to write the story. Now the final battle has been fought and won, maybe he is no longer meant for this earth."

Regina replied, "That is ridiculous! I refuse to believe that my son was meant to die. Are you out of your damn mind?"

Emma said, "No. I miss him as much as you, I am just trying to figure out why he was taken from us so young."

Regina came back with, "Because of that damn drunk driver that's why and if you goody goodies would let me alone with him for just a minute I'd fry him and that would be the last child that drunk bastard would ever kill."

Snow glared at Regina and said, "No you wouldn't. You have worked to hard to become one of the good guys and I know that Henry would never forgive you if you did."

Regina said, "Henry is dead so I don't much think he cares what I do and this drunk is no hero so I have no doubts that I could roast him and there would be no storyline to prevent it like with you. Back off or I will roast you too."Snow shouted "Regina!"

Snow shouted "Regina!"

Emma said, "just calm down and let's try to move on together. Your family now don't ruin it. Let's go to Granny's to start the funeral arrangements and we can go from there."

And with that, Emma and Regina agreed to go to Granny's Diner to start the funeral arrangements and everyone, hanging their heads and sagging their shoulders, went their separate ways.


	2. Chapter 2

At Granny's diner, Emma and Regina walked in, looking drained and defeated, a look that was not becoming on them. As they entered, the news of Henry's death had already spread across town, so they were in good company as everyone in the diner looked as defeated as they did. All except for a stranger in one of the booths. They noticed the stranger to the town sitting there but in their grief they didn't think to wonder what she might be doing in their town or how she might have gotten in, they were too consumed by grief to pay any attention to her. They sat in the next booth down from the stranger, and started talking about the funeral.

Emma, in a somber tone started, "I just can't believe he is dead. Parents aren't supposed to outlive their children. And it was suppose to be 'And they lived happily ever after.' Where is the 'happy'? where is the 'lived'?"

Regina, sounding more angry than anything looked at Emma, "What are you complaining about? You still have family, and friends, and a man. You still have a chance at forever. Not me though, no. I have been a villain for too long, and villains don't get happy endings."

Emma challenged Regina's assertion, "Nonsense, you are the best person I know now and I'm proud to call you a hero and my friend."

Behind them, the stranger opened a case that looked like a tackle box that was full of stones and crystals oriented in various ways, and started to tap them. As she did, the stones and crystals glowed. Emma and Regina had their backs to her, and didn't even notice as the stranger was analising them and hatching a plan that would change the course of their lives forever.

Regina changed the topic back to Henry, "Where are we going to have the funeral? And who are we going to invite? He touched so many, how are we supposed to have a funeral with the entire town? There is no place big enough in this town,"

Emma challenged the deflection, "Nice deflection. Such a tragedy. And to loose him so young. I miss Henry."

Regina was being a little sarcastic, "What? It is not like if you have another kid you will share **him** with me too."

Then suddenly, the stranger butted in, "Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear. I practice something more powerful than magic, or science, called Alchemy. It is sort of a cross of the two and, well, I think I can help. I have been studying up and trying to revive ancient magics from a time when magic wasn't taboo and was practised openly and well, I think I can bring your son back from the dead."

Regina retaliated, "Dead is dead. There is no coming back."

The stranger turned all the way around and continued, "That is where you're wrong. First there is the life for life spells, you may be familiar."

Emma, seeming more angry than anything at the stranger, spoke up, "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

The stranger quickly replied, with her hand out as to shake, "I'm sorry. My name is Stacy. I was using my magic computer consisting of stones and crystals, when I sensed a great tragedy with it. I thought I might be able to get here in time to stop it, but I didn't know what or where it was. Now I know. As I was saying, you may know of the life for life spells which trades one life for another…"

Neither of them took Stacy's hand, and Regina snapped at her as she cut her off, "Henry would not forgive me if I took a life, _even_ to save his. And I've worked too hard to become a hero instead of a villain to go and ruin it now. What do you think you're doing? Do you know who you're talking to?"

Stacy patiently responded, ignoring all the interruptions, "As I was saying, there is a potion called 'The Essence of Life' that does the same thing. It can resurrect the dead, even the long dead."

Regina rolled her eyes and in a snotty tone, said, "And I suppose you just happen to have some of this potion on you."

Stacy replied, "No. For one, it is hard to make with ingredients that are impossible to find. Two, it takes months to make it. And three, it is magic that has been lost for thousands of years that I'm recreating from a few scraps of parchment, and I didn't know there was a place with enough magic to do it in this world till I found you. Something that couldn't have happened without the death of your son, might I add. I swear to you if I have the help I need to collect the ingredients and do the spells, then I can bring your son back. Assuming that you have true love for the boy. The spells we need to make the potions needed to make the ingredients we need to make the potion 'Essence of Life' needs a pure intent and it don't get any purer than true love."

Emma asked, "Regina, is this possible?"

Stacy explained, "Basically you are giving life to a potion. The same way you would a child…. Sort of…. Then you trade the life of the potion for the life that you want. And it is powerful stuff. One drop can turn 1000 acres of Sahara desert sand to a lush green meadow in seconds, though to bring life to something with a nervous system, it takes a lot more."

Regina thought for a moment then stated, "Sounds plausible, if not a bit far-fetched."

Eager to save her son, Emma told Regina, "What do we have to lose?… That Henry ends up more dead? If there is a chance, I say we take it."

Then, Regina, saying it as she thought, it added, "Wait, you can't be serious. Even if it were possible, all magic comes with a price. What price would we have to pay for this one?"

Stacy, eager to try this old magic, and also to convince them, "Well, in the case of greedy, or dark magic the price is one of sacrifice, so if I do this, then the price could be high indeed, but in selfless or light magic the price is often a reward to you for the selfless act."

Regina angrily snapped, "Are you really buying this crap?"

Emma, sounding hesitant but eager, said, "No, but I think we need to try. I want my son back and I find it hard to think you don't."

Regina, offended, replied, "Of course I want him back, but I'm just being a realist. You can't bring back the dead."

Then to Stacy, "What assurances do we have that this is not some scam? We don't know you, for all we know you could be planning to harvest our organs."

Stacy had an odd look on her face, "Organs?! Really?! How many times have you or others come back from the dead or brought someone back from the dead in this town or in your land? There is always an exception and in this case, the exception is the potion,. 'Essence of Life' will die to resurrect your son. I swear to you it will work. Just trust me, and by this time next year, you and your son will be living it up and you will be wondering how many of your other mistakes I can help you undo."/

"Regina, sounding defeated said, "Well, I still don't think it will work but if Emma's in, then I guess I am too."

Emma, sounding a bit more excited, "Then, I guess we're in." Then she added, "Where do we start?"

Stacy changed pace from the sales pitch to actually working on the potion, and eagerly replied, "Well, the hardest ingredient will be the Essence of True Love. That is a potion that is theoretical, but will cut the time needed to make this potion from north of 10 years to south of 10 months, assuming you can get all the stuff ready in time, but I can make a list and I'll brush you up on the spells and timing as we go. Some of this is time sensitive, like the stars need to be in the right spot for it to work and they only align right every 57 years, That sort of thing. but these are just steps, so we can do them in any order. But we will need to have a corpse to experiment on to make this work, and to convert certain potions into individual ingredients. Oh, and you can't conjure the ingredients, you can summon them with magic, but you can't make them or it won't work…. So do you think you are ready?"

They nodded. "Then let's go save your son."

The three of them went to Gold's shop and there, they waited for Stacy to tell them what they needed. "Mr. Gold, do you have the potion, 'Essence of Love', also known as 'True Love'?"

Gold said, "What is this all about? Why are you in my shop? And when we're closed no less."

Stacy explained again, "I study ancient extinct magic and mix it with science. I have discovered an ancient potion called 'The Essence of Life' and I have been trying for years to make it but some of the ingredients and potions and spells involved are, well, let's just say, not possible without enough magic and that is where this town comes in. I discovered this town when my magic computer sensed a great tragedy about to happen and I thought I could stop it but I got here too late, but, lucky for these women, I know a magic that can revive the dead, even the long dead. It is hard to make and involves impossible to find ingredients, but I swear the magic is real and I know how to make it."

Gold snapped at stacy, "No, I do not have the potion you seek and I don't see the purpose to this. it won't make any difference, magic can not bring back the dead. I don't care what you practise. Dead is dead."

Stacy offered, "Trust me, I can do the impossible. I specialize in the impossible. Never mind, that aside, can you make it?"

Gold surrendered the information, still not convinced, "I can make some."

Stacy felt more hopeful and continued, "Good. And which one of you can get me the bones of a highland goat born on a Sunday?"

Regina was unconvinced and tried to reject the plan out of hand with, "This is ridiculous. Gold is right, this stuff can't possibly work. Maybe I should fry you right now." She raised her hand and created a fireball, trusting Gold's knowledge of magic over the stranger's.

Stacy ignored the threat, and reiterated her explanation with different wording, "This is old, old magic from this world, from back when this world still had magic. The magic had been lost for thousands of years but I cobbled enough of it together to be able to make an educated guess as to the rest. Then testing my theories I learned more and refined my theories to probable success. I can't guarantee anything without testing it first to refine it and get closer, but I know for a fact this magic was used, so I know for a fact that it is possible. Some of the ingredients are no longer in existence so I had to figure out another way to recreate the magic, but I've been working on this research for 23 years. I want this potion as bad as you do, if only to prove it can work. I promise it will work. Just trust me."

Gold responded with, "I'm sorry, but as I said before, you can't bring back the dead, it is impossible."

Stacy was frustrated at having to explain herself over and over, but tried again, "Nothing is impossible. Someone told me you died and you were brought back with a life for life spell. Well, this is the same thing, except instead of killing a living person, you give life to a potion so it is as alive as you are, and then you summon the soul and bind the soul to the Essence of Life potion. Then you pour the potion over the body and in the mouth and wahlah, he is alive again. There is always a loophole to everything."

Gold challenged Stacy with, "Well, that's all well and good, but as you may know, all magic comes with a price."

Stacy sighed in frustration and tried again to convince them, "Yes, but only with greedy magic is that price one of losing. With selfless magic… unconditionally selfless magic, the price is often a reward for your selflessness. That is why they must make the potion. Their selfless love for Henry will give us our best chance. Oh, and by the way we are going to need a corpse to experiment on. Who can get me a corpse?"

Gold spoke first, "What for?"

Stacy knew that this bit she hadn't explained before, and went with the truth, "I need a corpse to test out the potions on and to use to convert those potions into individual ingredients to make the final potion 'The Essence of Life'. Also when the time comes to use the potion, I'll need more things like to summon a soul. Oh, and I need the blood of a deer born under a full moon…. preferably female. It doesn't hurt to stack the deck in our favor where we can, right? Now here is one that will be hard to capture, thousands of years ago, they would have had to add it directly by making the baby laugh when they were making the potion. The laugh of a new born baby, born on the new year or on the new moon or august 12th, for some reason. But the baby has to be less than 6 months old or the laugh will be no good. I was thinking that you could enchant a cassette player, but it would be better if it was a direct capture, like engraving a record back when the technology first came out. You may need to leave Storybrooke for a lot of these. Oh, and unless you want to kill a person to make the potion, it will need to be made in two batches, one with the blood of a man and the other with the blood of a woman. They must share true love and it only takes a drop. You know what… how about I just make a list and you can fight each other for it. We will have to hurry though, the first part of the potion can only be made when the stars are in the right alignment and that is in 10 days. Miss it, and you will have to wait 57 years."

Regina exclaimed in an aggressive manner, "Where the hell am I supposed to find a baby in 10 days?"

Stacy was taken off guard, "No you got months before we will need the baby's laugh, but I will need the bones though."

Turning to Gold, she continued, "And like I told them, you can't conjure the ingredients. It won't work unless it is pure and with real ingredients. You can summon the ingredients from anywhere but you can't conjure them. I'll go start on the lists now."

Stacy left, and Regina, Emma, and Gold, looked at each other

Regina spat the words out as though a nasty taste was in her mouth for trusting this stranger with something she knew to be impossible, "Is this woman for real?"

Gold was reluctant to trust her as well, and admitted, "Well we don't know much about the magic of this world, seeing as it is not supposed to have any. I honestly don't know. We shall see."

Emma, burned before but missing Henry, was tentatively eager and so chimed, "I hope it works. Henry's only been gone a few hours and I'm already lost without him."

Regina huffed, "I won't hold my breath."

And the three of them parted ways to start looking for ingredients.


	3. Chapter 3

Stacy finished the lists, and rushed off to catch each of them to give them their lists. After Emma took off, Stacy thought to herself, "Emma's list had 100 feathers from 100 geese. I hope she doesn't think that that means 100 feathers from each goose, that will be a mess."

Emma recruited Snow and David to help her hunt down 100 geese. While Regina headed to the highlands to find a goat born on a Sunday. And Gold went to find a bloodstone and a piece of one thousand year old parchment, 1000 years to within a year plus or minus. They scurried for 10 days, rushing to get all the ingredients for the first potion.

They met in Regina's vault and Stacy eagerly urged them on by saying, "Hurry there isn't much time. The alignment will only last another hour or so, and it will take most of that to make the potion."

Regina used a fireball to light the fire under the small cauldron. Gold sorted the ingredients with Emma's help. Stacy started calling out ingredients as they rushed to make the potion. Holy water, moonstone, feathers, (fortunately Emma did not think it was 100 feathers each), placing the bones in the fire and using a cheese grater to grate some of the goat's skull into the potion, the parchment on which Stacy has Emma and Regina write the words 'Life', and 'Reborn' in their own blood on it, then made Emma burn it over the cauldron. Regina and Emma chanted in a foreign tongue of a long dead magical language that couldn't even be pronounced without magic. The potion bubbled, and then there was a swirl of light that entered the potion.

Stacy looked at her watch and with a breath of relief, reassured them, "3 minutes to spare."

Regina was dubious and remarked, "Is that it?"

Stacy was exhausted to have to keep urging them on and selling them on the idea, and nearly snapped at Regina, but managed to keep her cool and rein herself in as she continued with, "No, that is just one potion with which you use a corpse to make one ingredient which will be just one step towards the final potion. And Gold, how is it coming with the True Love?"

Gold sensed Stacy's frustration and replied, "I've been a bit busy with the ingredients for this potion."

Stacy continued, "Well, you still have plenty of time for it, but it is the most important ingredient needed to bring all our work together. So take your time but just know it needs to be ready before we finish with all the other ingredients.

"As for you two, Emma and Regina, for this to work your love for your son will need to be strong and time will cure you of that. So, I recommend you two spend lots of time together, focusing on your son. And if the two of you get closer in the process… maybe enough for true love… not necessarily romantic, family or friend love will do, but it will need to be pure true love because there are variables that can interfere with this magic. And although I think I can account for them all, this is extinct magic we are working with, so I might have missed something I don't know about yet. So if you fall in true love regardless of the form it will open the door for a plan B, which is still a work in progress. I just know that all the possible plan B's will need true love to work, especially if your love for your son has faded too much by then."

Regina was irritated and raised her voice a decibel or two to show her distrust, "I knew it! It is a scam! What kind of things can interfere?!"

Stacy was calm and trying to comfort them while informing them of the issues and trying to stay in control, replied with, "Well, certain magics and curses, talismans, being magically bonded to someone, oh and fate to name a few. But I can't know which till I try it. I have a computer made with magic from stones and crystals but it needs an energy to read, so unless he was killed by magic, it can't read him till magic is added. If it works, then your son will be alive, and if it fails, then I will be able to tell why, and that will determine which plan is plan B. So we can't use all the 'Essence of Life' potion on him the first time, we will need some for plan B if plan A fails."

Emma was now a bit more dubious, and asked, "What is plan B?"

Stacy, uncertain yet as to a plan B tried to keep them focused while trying to alleviate their concerns, "I don't know _yet_ but I do know it will require you two to be a lot closer and to try to keep the pain of losing Henry fresh till this is over. The more you like each other the better the odds of plan B working if plan A fails. Now, I need you to start collecting ingredients. It may take a while to get a baby's laugh, so I don't think we will be able to make this full moon in six days, so we will try for the next one in thirty four days."

Then, raising her voice to assert authority in the situation and refocus them on their tasks, continued with, "So, if you want to get your son back I suggest, Gold, you go after your list and you two work together. You two will need to get the baby's laugh, for the magical properties and your vested interest in making this work. Your working together might help to strengthen the magic and make it work. And try not to miss the full moon in 34 days because if you do it will be another 28 days before we can try again."

Stacy looked at Gold, "Now, Gold, do me a favor, when this potion cools, strain it, separate it, bottle it, and set it somewhere where the full moon can hit it. Oh, and label it potion A so we can keep track, if we don't add the potions in the right order or amounts it won't work. Oh, and another thing, where is my corpse? We can't finish without it. Now shoo, shoo. You two spend the night talking about Henry and/or each other. Now shoo."

Gold left to find a corpse, Emma called Hook and told him about what she and Regina would need to do to get Henry back, and told him she would not see him much for a couple months. Hook was not happy, but as he wanted Henry back too he was willing to put up with it for a while.

Emma and Regina went to Regina's and drank themselves silly to open up and start talking about their adventures, but mostly how Henry brought them all together and made them one big happy, dysfunctional family. When they got tired, they went to the bedroom, sat on the bed, and talked till they fell asleep, bottles in hand.

Regina woke on her back, still fully clothed, to find Emma's hand on her crotch as Emma laid sleeping on her belly, also fully clothed, facing Regina with her head nestled against Regina's shoulder. Regina picked up her hand as if it were something disgusting and placed it on the bed. This promptly woke Emma who, with a throbbing head, remarked, "Oh hey, we must have fallen asleep."

Regina was a bit snippy, and opened the morning with, "Yeah, well it was hard to sleep with your wandering hands. You can't seem to keep your hands to yourself when you're asleep. Or was that because you were drunk?"

Emma rolled over, grabbing her head, and getting a bit snippy herself, replied, "Yeah, well you kick in your sleep. Who were you dreaming of to be so violent in your sleep?"

Regina's come back was, "You and your wandering hands that's what. Now go shower and borrow some of my clothes, you smell like a cheap date. And save me some hot water or I'll turn you into a toad."

Emma got up and groggily staggered to the bathroom saying, "First, ow! Don't yell, I have a hangover. Second, I have magic too so just try it. I dare you."

Regina, trying to wake up and deal with her own hangover, made her way to the kitchen to make coffee and breakfast. As they ate, they discussed how best to go about getting the next item on the list, then Regina took a shower, got ready, and they went to the car.


	4. Chapter 4

Regina and Emma left Storybrooke in Regina's car. Emma was not too happy with that, but Regina refused to ride in Emma's "Death trap" again. They had a long journey ahead of them so Emma turned on the radio and Regina, not liking the music, turned it off.

Emma snapped at her, "How the hell are we supposed to get close enough to make the spell work if we can't even agree on music?"

Regina replied, "I have an idea. We are supposed to connect over Henry, right? Well how about we sing the songs I sang to him when he was a baby and couldn't sleep? I'd put him in the car and drive all over Storybrooke singing all the songs the first curse taught me."

Emma thought it was a great idea so they sang songs like wheels on the bus, and rock a bye baby, as they headed to the nearest city with a population high enough to be likely to find a baby born on the new moon. They went around to each of the hospitals in New York to search for a baby fitting the birth date. They had a device they got out of a museum to capture the baby's voice in an engraving, like on a record. Now they just needed to find the baby.

Emma felt envious of Regina and all the mothers of all the babies they had seen so far, and thinking about Henry and mourning all the time she did not get to have with him as a baby, started thinking out loud, then directed it to Regina, "I'm so jealous of you, you got to raise Henry. You saw his first laugh, his first tears, his first smile. I wish I could have had that with him."

Regina laughed and joked, "Yeah, well tell me that after all the sleepless nights, and the ear splitting crying, so loud that you think you will go deaf, and spit up, and poopy diapers, and getting peed on."

Surprised by Regina's remark, Emma's response was, "You can't tell me you didn't love it or that you would take any of it back. Look me in the eye and tell me you would change one moment of it?"

Regina just smiled and Emma, mocking spite, continued, "I thought so. I just wish I could try again but I think if I went to Hook and asked him for a baby he would probably divorce me."

Regina was envious, and tried to add some perspective by coming back with, "Well, at least you can have babies. In spite, over my mother's meddling in my life, I took a potion that made me sterile. I can't have a baby at all. I'll never get to know that feeling."

Emma was mildly horrified at the thought of being pregnant again and said, "Getting fat, waddling like a duck, breast pain, back pain, gas, bloating, peeing every 10 minutes, and the pain of passing a watermelon through a soda straw. Yeah, no thanks. That is the part I wish I could forget."

Regina was humbled, "Well when you put it like that…. But still, I wish I could have a baby of my own."

Emma was disheartened at the notion that Henry may be her last child and gently replied, "Me too. My own I mean."

Regina continued, "I would name her Hope if it was a girl and…. I don't know. I haven't thought of any boy names. I just named Henry after my father and I only have one of those."

They entered the nursery of the 4th hospital on the list, and saw the babies. Regina picked up a clipboard and said, "The one on the left."

The nurse came in and asked them what they were doing. They told her the truth, trying to capture a baby's laugh. Regina fired up the device and Emma tried to get the baby to laugh while the nurse called security. The baby laughed and then Emma and Regina left, just missing security by seconds. They quickly headed back to Storybrooke.

On the way back, Emma began to sob and Regina asked her "What is wrong?"

Emma stopped sobbing long enough to say, "Oh, nothing, I'm just thinking about all those babies, and how I missed that time with Henry, and how I might never have that chance again. Henry being dead isn't helping my mood much either."

Regina reached over and placed her hand on Emma's. Emma took it, looked at Regina, and smiled. They held each other's hands for a long while on the interstate, until Regina needed her hand back for a toll booth.

When they got back, they were greeted by Snow and David, eager to learn about their progress. Emma and Regina, both tired, told them they would talk in the morning, right now they needed sleep

"And," Regina added, "If Stacy is right, then we must continue to endure each other's company if the whole thing is to work."

Regina and Emma went to Regina's, and this time sober, they changed into some night clothes and crawled into bed. They talked about Henry till they fell asleep.

The next day, Regina picked Emma's hand off her boob like it was something nasty, and again, they went through the whole routine of how Emma's hands wander in her sleep, and Regina kicks in hers. Again, Regina made breakfast and coffee and they started their day together, this time with a visit from Hook, who was upset that he hadn't seen his wife for more than 5 minutes in nearly 2 weeks and started arguing with her about how she needed to come home. He told her that he loved Henry too, but she needed to accept that he was dead. Emma, partially convinced that she could get her son back, enough to try any way, layed in to hook and argued for ½ an hour.

This was followed by Snow and David prying into why the spells and potions would require them to spend so much time together. They could not understand what Emma was doing and they too argued that she needed to accept that Henry was gone. This lasted for an hour before finally Emma was able to start her day, so they finally went off to continue collecting ingredients.

They gathered all the ingredients for the next step with 4 days to spare. So Stacy had them bring the corpse to use the previous potion on. Stacy drew a little blood from the corpse, added it to the first potion, poured it into the corpse's mouth, waited for the skin to change color, then pulled a single hair, put it in a bottle, and told Emma and Regina to breathe into the bottle. Stacy corked the bottle and shook it, then opened it. The air began to glow and she poured the glowing air out into a bowl of water. The water began to glow for a moment, then she poured the water into two bottles and corked them to preserve them for the final potion.

Stacy turned to Gold and asked, "How is it coming with the Essence of True Love?"

Gold was still not trusting Stacy, but reluctantly handed her the bottle anyway, "Here you go."

Stacy, grateful, replied, "It needs a label if I'm going to keep them straight, in fact, they all do. Would you please?"

Gold waved his hand and the bottles suddenly had labels. Stacy handed them each their new list and told them, "In 4 days we can make the next one. The potion you are collecting for now can be done as soon as you complete your lists. As for you two, how is it going? Are you getting along? Are you grieving together over your son?"

Regina was not too happy about having to open up, and remarked, "Yes but I think we need our own beds because her hands wander."

Emma countered with, "And she kicks! Besides I'm missing my husband and he won't shut up about me not having time for him. When can I go home?"

Stacy observed their childishness and sighed, "Every moment you don't spend with each other is one step closer to failure. So you can go home when we are done and your son is alive again.

"And how about this, intimate contact such as holding hands and kissing promotes closeness by way of furthering trust as does talking about things you can't share with anyone else. Like your husband, parents, or friends, so are you secure enough in your sexuality to do these things to become as close of friends as you can knowing that it doesn't have to be anything more than just friends or sisters unless you decide you want it to?"

Regina was shocked at the suggestion that she might not be secure in her sexuality and revealed the shock when she let out a loud, "What?!"

Emma ignored Regina's reaction and responded with, "I once had to go undercover in a lesbian bar so I think I can handle intimate contact without it getting confusing."

Regina was unable to accept being bested by Emma, and showed her indignance with, "Well, if you can so can I. Anything to get our son back. But I only do this under a protest."

Stacy called Regina out on her attitude by replying with, "Really? Your attitude says that the occasional peck on the lips or cheek between you would cause you to lose your mind and need a straitjacket. I'm not asking you to make out, just be more intimate. Think sisters who are so close they can get out of the shower in front of each other or change in front of each other. There is no sexual component to their relationship, yet it is closer than most couples. A strong healthy relationship. That is what I'm asking of you. It don't need to have a sexual component unless you want it to."

Regina surrendered to Stacy's logic yet tried to save face by following up with, "Well, ok, if you put it like that, I guess I can."

Emma and Regina left to pursue their list, and Stacy headed back to the inn.


	5. Chapter 5

Stacy sat at her magic computer and began pressing stones and crystals, watching as they lit up far more than they ever did before. She smiled to herself and was in love with how much more power her computer had now that she was somewhere that had magic. She decided to test her theory as to why there was no magic in her part of the world and was not surprised to find she was right. All the radio waves since the harnessing of electricity had created an envelope around the planet that kept out a certain band of radiation that, (assuming her computer was right), caused an acceleration to evolution and made magic possible, but had the side effect of slowing cognitive development in a species, to that species as a whole.

Once she heard the words, "cognitive development" in her head, Stacy thought to herself, "Boy, do I sound pompous. I always had an exceptional mind for math, science, and logic, but I was deprived of a proper education due to dyslexia, so I had to teach myself, which, with a learning disorder, is no small feat, especially when you factor in that all the people I knew had IQ's so low they would have to come up to find 0. I suffered hardships and loss but I ended up smarter for it. Life was hard but I survived, and in my pursuits, I discovered the world was far more complex and interesting then I could have ever thought. And with that, I decided to study magic and accidentally stumbled across some ancient Native American artifacts in a cellar and I couldn't believe my eyes. The secrets to the vail of life and death. The secrets that could change the world. Oh, I will make money off it too, but mostly I'll be able to heal people and resurrect the dead. I will defeat murder and war and in doing so, change the face of the world and make it a better and safer place.

"Then, miracle of all miracles, I discover this place, with magic bleeding through from another dimension. Enough magic to fuel my research. It is a massive tragedy, them losing their son like that, but with the fact that I was able to detect it before it happened, and it led me here, but not in time to stop it. And given the nature of my research, I can't help but think it is fate, and if that is the case, this potion won't work for them. I will be in deep if I can't come up with a plan B…."

After working for an hour to find a plan B, Stacy decided to sit her magic computer aside and fire up Hulu to binge Legend of the Seeker and then, two episodes in, she saw one of the Mord Sith breathe life into the seeker and she had a thought.

"What if I gave someone the power of The Breath of Life?" She quickly flipped through her research to see if it was possible. Most of her research was pictures and had a lot of misspelled words. She found that it would work to give someone the power, but they would have the same problem as the Mord Sith in the show, they couldn't save someone who has been dead too long. She opened the drawer by the bed to put her research away, saw a Bible, and thought, "How did his power work?"

Then she thought, "If there was an immaculate conception, then the person born from that conception would wield godlike powers. But how to create an immaculate conception with the power to give life. A god could just speak it into existence, but for a human it must be much harder."

She started researching, theorising, refining, and using her magic computer, and ended up learning a few things. Like the breath of life can only exist in a female, it can be passed only mother to daughter as a power, but if you think of the power as an unlimited supply of batteries and the power to charge them, then a woman can pass a single breath as a power like giving a person a charged battery to any blood relative who is female. She also learned that the power could be used to breathe life into a womb and that the power would be lost upon fertilisation but she believed there had to be a loophole, a way to create the god needed. So she kept working all through the night and discovered that it could be done. If the potion failed to resurrect their son because of fate, then it could work, a plan B.

Stacy knew she could not tell them that it might not work. That would be bad for everyone especially their son. So for now, she would only tell them she had a plan B, but this means she would need to meddle in their lives more, because if she was right, if it didn't work, they would need to be in some form of true love to make plan B work. She went to bed to catch a couple hours of sleep before checking on their progress.

Meanwhile at Regina's, Regina woke up first as usual, face down this time, when Emma slapped the back of her unconscious hand on Regina's butt.

Regina kicked her and barked, "Wake up and get your hand off my butt."

By now, Emma had moved some clothes into Regina's house. She did her usual routine and as they sat down to breakfast and started talking about Henry, Emma asked, "Wait, aren't we supposed to also be holding hands and talking about personal things that are too intimate to share with anyone else?"

Regina replied, " I don't think we need to do that."

Then Emma asked, "We want this to work, right?"

Regina spat with disdain in her voice, "I am still not convinced it will."

Emma tried more aggressively, "Well, we have to try."

Regina, childishly challenging Emma, responded with, "Well I won't."

Emma, calling Regina out on her attitude, raised her voice, "Regina, you are starting to sound like a little child. You want Henry back right?"

Regina nodded in response and Emma continued with, "Then you need to do this. She has been researching this magic for 23 years, so I think if it is possible, she would know what's best. I'll go first. When I was in prison, I was not a tough person yet, so I had a girlfriend for protection. I got lucky. She was nice as far as being owned by someone goes, but I was not a fan of being used. That is probably a big part of why I never developed a taste for female loving. The rest is probably that as far as I know, I'm straight. Your turn."

Regina was reluctant to take part in this thing thinking it to be ridiculous and so, feeling unsure of herself, she tried to come up with something, "Well I don't know I guess I…. um…. I actually felt bad when I killed Snow's father, or more accurately, had him killed. I wasn't quite evil yet."

Emma replied, "Nice try. We will have to work on that."

Then they got up, and went out to start their day of searching for hard to find ingredients.

Around noon, they came across Stacy at Granny's, having lunch, and Stacy told them excitedly, "Good news, the potion should work. Better news, I've reduced the options of things that can go wrong, so I can now formulate a plan B. Oh, and best news, I have formulated a plan B! I do have bad news, though. In my research, I found that for this to work, it will require you to have true love for each other, for plan A and plan B, so you will need to take measures to take care of that. It doesn't need to be romantic, unless you want it to be. It just needs to be real and true."

Regina, still reluctant, responded with, "We are doing our best but I still don't see how our loving each other will help."

Stacy explained, "Well, it is simple, the longer Henry is dead the more you grieve. The less it hurts, the weaker the magic is. And your love for each other can work on this magic, the way a mommy and daddy do to give life to him again. But, if your love for him has faded by then it will take a blood brother style ritual to bind your blood to his to make you, from a magical standpoint, as biologically his mother as Emma is. Then your love will enhance the magic of the love for Henry and offset any losses from time. Trust me this will work. I need it to work as much as you do so I can use it to change the world and give rise to hope again. Imagine if murder was useless because the person could be revived even from ashes to testify against you. War would be useless because the soldiers won't stay dead. Mothers will no longer out live their kids. I will be the master of life and death and I say everybody lives. I will make my mark and you will help me do it by making the potion for me and your reward is that you will get your son back."

Emma asked, "And what if it doesn't work? What then?"

Stacy explained, "Well, I have a plan B but you might not like it because it messes with fate and creates a power so great that it is nearly godlike. And if it is corrupted then it will be the greatest threat to the world, ever. A single person with the power of a god. Now if it works the person will be different, they will be driven to good and as such nearly incorruptible so they would be the ultimate force for good, godlike powers good, walk on water good, but as with the power that makes this possible anything is possible. If the person can be corrupted you would have the equivalent of a demon god on your hands so you would need to protect the person mostly from corruption because they would have the power to protect themselves in every other way. But that is plan B. wielding that much power is dangerous so that will always be plan B. If I, or rather we, can help it we will save your son without it but plan B also needs the potion so either way we need the potion to get your son back."

Emma was far more hesitant now, "I don't know….. That plan B sounds a bit too dangerous. What if we fail. We can't unleash that kind of power on the world."

Stacy was frustrated, "And that is why I need you to love each other. I'm putting all my effort into plan A. We need to make sure plan A succeeds. So you are going to need to do things that build trust and intimacy, and you are going to need to act quick because we are running low on time."

Regina asked, "How is that?! By your own admission you don't know what you're doing."

Stacy responded, "Actually, I do. I just don't have all the details."

Regina pushed, "If the potion is so hard to make then what good will the leftovers be to you?"

Stacy, refused to back down, and continued, "I know of a way to reproduce the potion with another potion and it only takes a single drop. With one drop I could make enough potion to last a year and with the vial that should be left I should be able to make enough potion to last thousands of years. I'll cure famine and disease, I should even be able to use it with a crystal device to heal people of nearly any ailment. If I'm right I can even extend life with it, maybe to hundreds of years. Anyone saying a thousand years would not be accused of insanity."

Regina challenged Stacy's ethics to see if she was worthy of such power, "Why should you have this power? That is a lot of power for one person. You could take over the world. That is if it even works out there."

Stacy stood her ground on the subject, "I don't want the world, I just want to help people and to heal them. I want to make the world a better place and telling others what to do is not how you do it. You lead by example. You show the world the best way to be by being the best you can and trusting them to want to follow suit. And The Essence of Life is so powerful it will work out there, maybe not as well but it will still work."

Emma tried to cut in to referee and added, "The world would be so much better if there were more people who think like that."

Stacy noticed what Emma was doing by butting in, and graciously excused herself with, "I'll get another coffee to go and leave you fine ladies to get better acquainted." Then she got up and left.

Regina turned to Emma, not too pleased that she let Stacy off so easy, "I don't know, something is fishy about her. I can't put my finger on it but I just don't quite trust her. I think she has an agenda that we don't know about. You heard what she said about making a god? I think she may be trying to make herself a god."

Emma challenged Regina's view on the issue with, "I think all those years of being evil has made you unable to trust anyone."

Regina was mildly offended, "Not true, I trust you. Besides, I think all those years of being a Charming has rotted your brain. You are being naive. No one is that good and nice and selfless, not even the Charmings. Snow broke and she killed my mother, so even she fell to temptation. What makes you think this woman is any different?"

"Emma was unwavering and followed up with, "It is my superpower. I can just tell. Now grab yourself a coffee and let's go. We have a long day ahead of us and we still need to work on you opening up so this can work."


	6. Chapter 6

While in the car on their way to find rutilated quartz the size of a golf ball, Regina, trying to open up, confessed, "I think I have a time to share. When I first adopted Henry, he would not stop crying. I was so frustrated that I nearly took him back. I was ready to give him up, when he stopped crying for me, then I found out he might be the savior's son and I changed my mind again and took him back. While I was waiting for the man to come back with the papers, I picked Henry up and held him and he smiled, my cold heart melted and Ii couldn't bear to part with him. It was in that moment I knew he was my son, and there was no force in any realm that could change that. That is why I acted the way I did when you came to town. I felt you were going to take my son and my heart could not bear the thought, let alone if it actually happened. I just couldn't bear it. So I reacted badly. And I just realised i never apologized for that, so I'm sorry I treated you so badly when we first met. But I am glad that it turned out the way it did between us. You and the Charmings have become my family and that I don't regret."

Emma's heart warmed and all the animosity they shared was melting away, so Emma in her 'too tough to feel' manner, did her best to be supportive, and offered, "That is so much better. And for what it is worth we are glad to have you the family just wouldn't be complete, dysfunctional as it is, without you. You make us whole. Now with things like that, if Stacy is right, we will be ready in no time." They spent the rest of the day collecting ingredients and talking, as now Regina was starting to be more able to open up and they could finally make some more progress towards loving each other enough to make this whole thing work. But after that, nothing they said all day had ½ the emotional resonance of was said when they first got in the car. Regina had topped the day with that story about Henry, and they were able to forget the pain of losing Henry for a short time, and bask in the warmth of their mutual love for him. The happiness did not last all day, but it overshadowed the whole day and made the pain of losing Henry all the more bearable. And with that, they were too emotionally invested in this course of action to bring Henry back to be able to back out no matter what may crop up to interfere. From that point on, they would not stop at anything to get their son back.

On the full moon, they met in Gold's shop and proceeded to make the second potion. Emma and Regina did most of the work, while Gold stood by and handed them ingredients, and Stacy asked how things were going between them.

Emma, glad to have good news to offer, replied, "A lot better now. We are opening up more and getting closer."

Stacy placed a tackle box looking thing on the counter and opened it. It was full of stones and crystals mounted in various ways to various parts, and exclaimed, "Wahlah, my magic computer."

She touched a stone and it lit up, along with several others, then she moved her hands quickly to each stone and crystal in a unusual way, and stones and crystals would light up and go out.

Regina asked, "What are you doing?"

Stacy responded, "Analyzing our progress with this magic, and with your feelings towards each other, and according to this we are progressing well with the magic, but you are not doing so well with your love. Maybe you could try telling each other things you said or did or thought against the other, and try to be understanding and forgiving of each other. Also True Love potion can not make you fall in love, but what it can do is drop your guard and make you more open to love."

Stacy reached for the True Love and asked for a metal goblet of water. She then put a single drop of the True Love potion in the goblet then handed Emma and Regina each a quartz crystal and urged them to, "Now hold the crystal with both hands and breath on it, then, keeping both hands on the crystal, touch the crystals to the water at the same time."

They did as they were told and the crystals glowed and the energy went into the water. Stacy then handed Emma the goblet and told her to, "Now drink deep but save about ½ for Regina."

Emma drank, then Regina drank then Stacy told them, "Now hold hands for about 30 seconds, left to right and right to left."

They did as they were told and they glowed for a moment then they stopped.

Emma, thinking she should feel something stated, "I don't feel any different."

Stacy reassured them, "You won't yet, but your emotions will be heightened for a while. This does not make you love each other it only dropped your defences so you can connect easier and as such be more likely to find it. This is powerful stuff though, so the emotions that will run a little hotter will make it more likely to impair your judgment, so don't drink or do drugs for a few days. The last thing you need is to impair your judgment further, unless you want to end up ingaging in coitis or something as equaly as unapealing to you, like jail. You may not want to share the same bed for a day or two for the same reason."

Regina, offended by the statement, asked, "Why would we, to use your term, ingage in coitis? We don't like each other, or women in general for that manner."

Stacy was unwavering, and tried to calm regina while explaining the dangers of what they had just done, "Statistically females' sexuality is far more fluid than men, and when women are not being driven by their hormones to breed, the kind of person they look for, be it man or woman, is in personality basically an average woman. Sensitive, nurturing, compassionate. Since a woman not driven by hormones is more attracted to the person then the genitals, their orientation is more fluid, and therefore, more likely that something might happen. Just trust me, unless you want to have sex, you will stay out of the same bed for a day or two. Now shoo, shoo. Go find ingredients and find love for each other."

Regina breathed deeply and sighed, "I think we might need to stay at the Charming's for a couple days. Unless you are looking forward to something happening."

Emma, not wanting to burden her parents with the mess they have to go through to get Henry back, and not wanting them to hear all of her and Regina's darkest secrets, tried to cut that thought off right there, "No. If you remember, I told you I was owned in jail. That turned me off of any latent attraction I may or may not have had toward women, not that I am aware of having had any attraction to women to begin with. Why, are you saying you want to?"

Regina, disturbed by the question, replied, "Ew, no. I've never looked at a woman that way and I'm not interested in starting now."

Emma, confident that they would be fine, said, "Well then, I don't see what she was talking about."

Regina offered a compromise, "Still, better safe than sorry. And I have no idea where to start looking for a green mushroom. What do you say we pick this hunt up in the morning? You go to your husband and I'll go home, we will meet at Granny's at about 7. Sounds good?"

Emma agreed and went home to Hook. She was so tired that all she did was sleep.

In the morning, she and Hook argued at about 6 AM and Emma, frustrated, walked out. Hook, unable to accept that Emma was not willing to accept Henry's death and move on, punched a hole in the wall and returned to his usual spot since Emma started spending all her time with Regina, at the bottom of a bottle.

Emma met Regina at Granny's and they had breakfast and started planning their day. After breakfast, they got in Regina's car and Emma pondered aloud, "So, I was thinking. If you are here with me then who is running the town?"

Regina, shocked that it even came up, asked, "You just thought about this now?"

Emma shrugged and asked, "So?"

Regina told her, "I have your mother looking out for the town. Who is the sheriff in your absence?"

Emma, thinking touché, replied, "David. Now should we try telling each other things we said, did or thought?"

With an attitude and a reluctance, Regina remarked, "Only if you want us to kill each other."

Emma, determined to do what is necessary to save her son, pushed, "We need to do this."

They spent the next hour and a ½ talking and forgiving each other amidst the screaming fits of rage. They collected the next item and Emma, practically begging, threw out a suggestion, "That is enough of that. We need to change the subject."

So they tried opening up to each other again, this time, they talked for 4 hours as they drove, cried, hugged, held hands and comforted each other. They collected the next item and Emma, exhausted, spoke in a hushed tone, "I'm all cried out. Let's try happy? Let's try connecting over our relationship with Henry?"

So they spent the rest of the day laughing and crying about Henry and their adventures with him. Then they went to Regina's and talked some more. They got in bed and decided to talk about each other. What they liked, what they disliked, what they liked about each other, etc.

The next day, they woke up spooning with Emma behind Regina, and her arm over her waist. For a moment, Regina smiled, then she shook her head to shake the thought of liking Emma holding her out of her head. She elbowed Emma and barked, "Get up."

Realising she had her arm around Regina, Emma quickly moved and they started their usual morning routine, but they were surprised to find they were being more affectionate toward each other. And worse off, they were liking it. Holding hands, a kiss on the cheek. They were thrown by this and they tracked Stacy down and begged her to stop it.

Stacy was deaf to their pleas, "I couldn't even if I wanted to. Besides, it is not giving you anything you didn't already have, it is just bringing it to the surface and amplifying it. It will help you get more comfortable around each other and drops your guard so you can connect more. It is a cheat. It doesn't make any thing, it just makes it easier to make it on your own. Relax, it will wear off slowly over a week or two and you will be back to normal, but more comfortable around each other, and it will finally be possible to make this work. Trust me, you will be fine."

They were not happy but they reluctantly accepted it and went about their day. Smiling at each other and often crying about Henry.

When all the ingredients had been collected for the next potion, Mr Gold had already built a proper magic lab in a shed to help with their magical needs. Which was good as this time they would need to distill the potion. By this time, Emma and Regina had gotten used to the routine, so they could do more on their own to make the potions.

They added the deer blood and and the mushroom and a few other ingredients, then they distilled it while they mixed another potion. When it was complete, they poured the distilled potion into the other potion and said a little chant over it, stirred it, then added potion B to the corpse, on his feet and hands, then they placed the Rutilated Quartz on his 3rd eye (Metaphysical eye. He did not have 3 eyes.) Then poured potion C over the corpse's 3rd eye, over the Quartz, they chanted, took the Quartz off, then shook it three times, three times. That is to say, three times once then three times twice etc.

Then they placed the Quartz on a shelf with potion A, then they drained a bit of the corpse's blood into a cup with some water and added sea salt, and just to boost the strength of the potion, Regina and Emma each added a tear of grief over the loss of Henry. They poured the potion into two new bottles, then labeled _**them**_ potion B, then they got their new lists, placed the potions on the shelf beside the bottles of potion A, and left to gather more ingredients.


	7. Chapter 7

By now the love potion had worn off, but it had the desired effect, so they were more comfortable around each other and even felt free to take liberties on each other's behalf. They surely were at a point of loving each other by now.

They eventually decided to ask Stacy about it, and she told them, "Come here." She opened her magic computer, touched a few stones and crystals, and broke the news to them, "Yes you love each other but not enough to have magic from it. It is not true love yet. There is something between you that you need to resolve to be able to cross that threshold to true love."

Regina, upset, asked, "What could possibly be left for us to work out?"

Stacy, baffled, replied, "I have no idea, because it is not magical in nature. If you were cursed or something that was detectable, I could detect it then I could help. Whatever this is it is personal,not magical so only you can figure it out. It is beyond my power."

Emma grabbed Regina's arm as she approached Stacy as though she were about to kill her. While Stacy ignored them and Emma urged, "Come on Regina, we have work to do." And they left.

Outside, Regina asked, "Why didn't you let me fry her?"

Emma, tempted to restrain Regina again, more forcefully insisted, "We still need her. Besides, I thought you were good now, try acting like it."

They then went off to take a quick nap to prepare because they needed 24 daisies, each picked on the hour every hour from 1AM to midnight, all with the same number of petals, by dropping a pinch of sea salt on them, plucking a single petal and then cutting the stem with a bone knife at an angle. When they woke, they found a field of daisies, and using their flash lights, they started counting petals and marking them with ribbon to find them again. As the time ticked by and they collected their flowers, they talked, trying to figure out what could possibly be holding them back.

They pondered all the secrets they knew but they shared all those. They pondered all their thoughts, actions, and words to or about each other. But they had already shared all those too. They could not figure out what was wrong, why couldn't they love each other pure enough to be able to save their son, and at about 9:30 PM, they figured it out. It was their intentions.

Their intentions were not pure and selfless. They were trying to love each other to save their son, not to love each other. For love to work it needs to be love for love's sake. They have to love each other for no other reason than they do love each other. But how can they get their intentions out of the way? How can they stop thinking it and just feel it? How can they stop loving each other for Henry, and love each other for no other reason than they do?

The next day, they found Stacy again, she was in Granny's, and Emma was happy to have discovered the problem and was eager to tell her, "We figured out the problem. We are loving each other to save Henry and love can't work, can't be true, if it is not love for no other reason than you do. So what do we do? How can we get out of our own way?"

Stacy, thrilled that they figured out the problem, tried to restrain her enthusiasm so as not to tip her hand that she knew plan A was likely to fail, now she was trying to figure out a way to help them solve it, "Well, that is a dilemma and you are quite right. That is exactly your problem. All I can say is, that if you know that that is the problem and you wish to change it and you mean it. Then only time can fix it. If you decide you want to love each other for no other reason then you love each other, then just keep doing what you are doing and try your best to be as sincere as you can. Time will do the rest. But you will need to decide you are no longer trying to love each other for Henry and mean it with all your heart. You will need to make up your mind soon though because we are nearly ½ way there and if you don't love each other in time, then the potion might or might not work but plan B definitely won't, and this means Henry will be gone forever and I won't be able to change the world. And I want to change the world."

Outside, they decided that for Henry's sake, whether the potion worked or not, they would always love each other to the best of their ability. They got in Regina's car and they headed over to see Snow and David to talk about love with them.

At snow's place, David was at the sheriff station, but as it was a Saturday, Snow was home. They discussed their problem with her,and she was a bit shocked, having misunderstood the problem, "You mean you two are trying to have what Emma and Hook have?"

Emma was taken aback, "What?! No!" And at the exact same time, Regina was equally as shocked, "Ew! No!"

Regina chimed in, "No, we are not looking for romantic love any more than the love for Henry that broke the curse the first or second time. We are trying for friends or sisters, that sort of thing."

Snow, relieved, sighed, "Oh. Phew. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with two women loving each other that way, but you worked so hard to have a good thing with Hook and I was looking forward to more grandkids. Don't get me wrong, I could love an adopted child as much as a natural one but it just would not be the same."

Emma quickly added her say, "First, I'm still in love with Hook and if I have any kids, it will be with him. Second, I don't know if he wants kids. And third, if I were to be romantically into Regina, there is this thing called a sperm bank so I would still be able to give you all the grandchildren you could handle. That's not why we are here, we are here to learn more about how to go from loving each other to save Henry, to loving eachother for no other reason than we do.

Snow, disappointed that she couldn't help, apologized, "I'm sorry, but I've never had to deal with it, so I don't know. But, if I had to guess, I'd say just being aware of the problem and deciding you want it to be different is the key, and the rest is just time. If you really want it then give it time and it will happen."

They left Snow's and went out to hunt for ingredients.

A few days later, Emma and Regina, while out, came across a boulder that looked like it had fallen from space and landed in a field. Emma made Regina pull over to take a look. As they got closer, they could sense the magical energy radiating off this rock and Regina warned against getting too close, but Emma was too curious and reached out. A bolt of energy jumped off it and hit Emma then Regina and for a moment, they knew what it was like to be the other. They shared each other's memories, and feelings and they were as one. This quickly ended but the experience left an impression on each of them, then, as they quickly backed away, they soon realised they could hear each other's thoughts and feel each other's feelings. They rushed to Stacy, worried it might interfere with the potions and spells.

Stacy opened her magic computer and as she started she confessed, "The meteor was my doing. I thought you could use some help to cross the threshold so I borrowed some ingredients from Gold and summoned a rock saturated with magic and enchanted it to allow you to see into each other's hearts and souls. I thought that might help."

Regina was pissed, "How dare you? You have no right."

Emma chimed in, "Did you think maybe we might want a say in the mater?"

Stacy challenged, "You want your son back right? And you would have undoubtedly have said no. So I took it upon myself to do what you could not, and would not, do to make you able to feel what you need to feel to get your son back. So hate me all you want but know I did you a favor that will help you get your son back."

Regina was hysterical but tried to restrain herself, and asked, "Well, how long will it last?"

Stacy, still calm, tried to reassure them, "A couple hours, and it looks like it is having the desired effect. If you embrace this opportunity, then, if it doesn't make you love each other with true love, it will at least guarantee you do have true love in time." She finished with her magic computer and continued, "Ya see there? It will pass in a couple hours and it is doing what it is supposed to. Just embrace it. Use it. Stop hunting for a while and just do things together. now shoo."

Regina, irate, lashed out, "I'll shooo you!" As Emma grabbed her arm and dragged her outside. After that, they spent a few hours doing things together like magic, gardening, and, as Emma chose, playing video games, untill the magic wore off 6 hours later, then they went back to hunting for ingredients.

A week later, they gathered in Gold's lab to make the next ingredient for the final potion. They mixed a potion, pulled a hair from the corpse, and put it in, then they poured the potion into the corpse's mouth, and chanted. The corpse took a breath, and exhaled a glowing light, which they captured and added to yet another potion, then Emma took the potion home to Regina's to freeze it in order to separate it, then, when thawed, they poured it into 2 bottles and labeled them C.


	8. Chapter 8

That night, Regina and Emma were talking as they were getting ready for bed. They no longer went into the other room or turned their backs to change. They seemed like sisters to any outside realised they were no longer talking about Henry and they hadn't in awhile. They had been talking about hunting for ingredients, or how to pronounce the spells, or how much they hated Stacy for being such a slave driver.

They realised they still loved him but he is no longer in their thoughts as much. They were glad it was nearly over, one more potion, and a few more ingredients and they could make The Essence of Life and have their son back.

They didn't even need to go to Stacy to tell them, they knew their love had crossed the threshold. Even the next morning, as always, still fully clothed, Regina woke first, and didn't bother taking Emma's hand off her crotch, she instead swept Emma's hair out of her face, caressed her cheek, and whispered, "Wake up." In a gentle tone as if to wake a sleeping child. Emma woke up, removed her hand on her own, then took to the shower. Regina went to the kitchen to make breakfast. The time was drawing nearer, and they were ready. They knew they would get their son back.

When they saw Stacy again, Stacy asked them for a list of magical, hard to find items, that they might be able to get. But most of the hard to find items were still in the enchanted forest. Stacy was captivated by the fairy diamonds. After analyzing them, she thought they could be used to boost the power of the final potion.

After that, Emma and Regina started collecting ingredients again. They drove to the airport to head to the tar pits in California, and Emma was not surprised that Regina had the same reaction as Gold to the airport security. Emma noticed she was staring at Regina, not thinking anything specific, just staring and smiling. Then came Emma's turn through the security. While she was going through, she noticed that Regina was looking at her. Not in a creepy way, just looking, and Emma joked, "See anything you like?"

Regina, embarrassed, turned away and replied, "No, I was just thinking how close we have gotten since this all started. yeah, I know we were friends before but we weren't exactly close, but now I'm at a point where I actually feel like you are family"

Emma smiled, collected her things from security, and they went to wait for their plane. While they were waiting, Emma thought, "I really wish there was something I could do for her. I wish I could help her with her happy ending. Maybe there is something Stacy could do when we get back."

At the tar pits, they used a stick to collect some tar and then they, knowing their flight was not for a few hours, took in some sights together, had lunch, and went back to the airport.

Their next stop was Montana. There was an ancient place of magic for the natives there that had some enchanted trees, but there were only 3 trees left. Emma collected a small branch and they stayed at a hotel for the night.

Emma and Regina locked eyes in their room, and it was as though they could read each other's thoughts. They sat there for ½ an hour, talking without saying a word. They could not actually hear each other's thoughts, it was just that they knew each other that well. They did not need to hear the other's thoughts to know what the other was thinking.

They went to bed, and Emma broke the silence with, "I just realised, now that we have true love we should be able to say the words, and we haven't yet. I'll go first. I love you Regina. I have no doubt that this will work to save our son. And the only way life could be better is if we had Henry back."

Regina caressed Emma's cheek with her hand and confessed, "I love you too, but I'm still not convinced it is possible to bring back the dead."

They laid there until they fell asleep.

In the morning, they checked out, had breakfast, then got on a plane back to Maine and went back to Storybrooke.

Emma and Regina went to Granny's, where they gave the ingredients to Stacy, and Regina took a seat elsewhere while Emma sat to speak with Stacy, "I want to help Regina find love. She has friends and family and for that she is happy, but it is not the same as having that one person who completes you. I want to help her. Is there anything you can do?"

Stacy put down her fork and looked at her for a moment, then slid her food to the side, and placed her magic computer on the table, opened it up, and in a few moments she had an answer, "I think the nature of your love for Regina is starting to cross boundaries to romantic. Now, I don't know if you are sexualy atracted," Emma shook her head no, "Then it is purely emotional. I will look into it."

Emma, quickly with a note of panic in her voice, responded, "I'm not looking to date her, I just want to find her someone to love."

Stacy was thinking so loud you could hear the gears turning inside her head and offered, "Well, I know that, but it doesn't mean you can't be the solution. If plan A works, then I will help you to find a way to find or make someone for her. Relax, I got this."

Emma got up, went over to Regina, sat down beside her, and Regina asked, "What was that all about?"

Emma shrugged and answered, "Nothing. I was just asking if there was a way to give you a person to be your other ½. Like me and Hook, or Snow and David, or Gold and Belle, or Red and Dorothy. I know you are happy but I don't want you to have to live with that hole in your heart."

Regina stared at Emma critically for a moment then explained, "I'm happy, and though it would be nice to have someone like that, like having a baby, it is just something I've had to learn to live without. It just isn't in the cards for me. I will just have to live with the fact that my family is all I get."

Emma looked sad but let it drop, then they ordered, ate, then went out to collect ingredients.

Then came the day that they got to make the final potion before they made the Essence of Life. They mixed the potion then added a drop of blood each, Emma and Regina, then they shook it and let it stand for an hour. They crossed the corpse's arms over his heart and poured the potion over his hands, then lifted his hands, and beneath was a stone, which they dissolved into some water, poured the water into two bottles, labeled them potion D, and put them on the shelf.


	9. Chapter 9

They got their lists of final ingredients needed to join the potions, and to join the final product to create life, as well as the ingredients needed to be able to use the potion.

Gold left for his shop, and Emma and Regina went to Regina's place, where they saw a picture of Henry. Regina whispered, "It is almost over baby. We are going to get you back."

Regina was reluctant to believe this whole ordeal could work because she knew it was impossible to bring back the dead, but she wanted so badly to believe it would because she missed Henry so bad that it hurt. And with the end in sight, Regina started to cry into her hands. She released all the pent up emotion and let the floodgates open and cried. It was clear the overwhelming emotions of grief of losing Henry and joy of knowing that she would soon have him back had overtaken her and Emma stepped in to do what little she could. Emma took Regina into her arms and tried to comfort her. Regina hugged Emma and started crying on her shoulder even harder now. As the tears flowed, neither one of them said a word. Emma just held Regina tight and rocked her back and forth gently soothing her and helping her in the only way she could.

It was the first time since Henry's death that she had allowed herself to cry, really cry, wholeheartedly, unable to do anything but curl up and cry, at least that was not magically induced. This was the first time she allowed herself to actually feel Henry's loss. In this moment, Emma got to be the strong one for Regina and help her through. Emma would have been crying too, but she was all cried out from all the times she let loose on Regina before this. Emma thought it was only fair that she be the strong one for a change.

After ½ an hour of this, Regina backed away slowly, just a bit, and looked at Emmas lips for a moment, then looked her in the eyes and blurted, "If only you were a man…."

She pushed away from Emma, wiped her tears away, and continued, "Thank you Emma. I don't know how I could have gotten through this without you."

Regina went to the bathroom to clean herself up, and they went to bed. The next day, they woke up holding each other and didn't move right away. They just stared into each other's eyes for a couple minutes before they got up to start their day of hunting for ingredients.

It was almost time, the new moon was in a few days and they could finally make the Essence of Life potion, then wait until the full moon for it to charge, and they would be able to use it.

18 days till they could get their son back. Henry has been dead now for about 4 ½ months and they would soon be able to get him back.

Gold came up to Stacy as she walked down main street, near the clock tower, he grabbed her by the arms angrily, and barely restraining himself, shouted, "I can see the future and I've seen that this dont work. Henry stays dead…."

Stacy, offended by the implication, cut Gold off, shaking his hands off her, and responded with, "That's why there is a plan B. First look into my future and see if the potion works on any one else after Henry, then look into Henry's future and see if he is alive next year. Now I dare you to finish your accusation."

Gold looked into the future, and while he was, as Stacy thought, daydreaming, she walked off.

Stacy quickly gathered the ingredients for plan B and only stopped a moment to think, "Odd. Plan B for baby."

Emma and Regina both wanted a baby, and they both wanted their son back. So they will have had no choice but to create the most powerful force for good that has ever existed. One way or the other, Stacy would leave this world better off then she came into it, and with all of the mistakes she had made, all the personal ghosts she had haunting her of things she has done and regrets, or things done to her. The time drew ever nearer and Stacy knew that her only hope is to complete the potion. The fate of the world hinged on what she did next.

She cobbled together a potion, enchanted some crystals, and tested them with her magic computer. "Good." It was ready with a day to spare. Stacy's anxiety level was high, and it was getting higher with every passing moment. She knew it all hinged on how well she can play them, telling them just enough of the truth to make them believe it is the whole truth, without telling them anything that would make them reject the plan. Stacy knew she had to get them so invested in this plan that they would feel as though they can't back out no matter what.

Stacy only wanted to make a difference, yes, being appreciated would be nice but with so much evil in the world, she just wanted to tip the balance back in the direction of good even a little bit. But she was nearly in panic because she knew they were still suspicious of her and one wrong word could bring this whole house of cards to the ground.

Stacy couldn't sleep, and in this town they rolled up the streets after dark. There was nothing to do, so she wandered around town. She came across Gold's place, looked inside, saw him spinning straw into gold, and thought, "Now that would be a useful talent to learn."

But from what she had heard of Gold, she did not want to stick around. So she kept on walking until she came across the Charming's house, and climbed a ladder to see inside. They were putting their baby to bed in the crib. Stacy had resigned herself to the fact that her life would always be empty. No love, no children, no job, and with her back problems from a decade ago, no hope of getting a job. No house, no car, no life. Her life was all spent up the day she was born. The only things she had going for her was her proficiency at math and science and her inhumane ability to survive nearly anything.

This made her a freak. A toothless, butt ugly, unloved freak and all she wanted was to make the world a little better so maybe the next freak won't have it so hard. She kept wandering till she came across Regina's house and looked inside. She saw Emma on the phone with Hook, who was being unreasonable, Emma hung up on him, then cried on Regina's shoulder.

Stacy lingered a while to see their progress and saw the looks they were giving one another and realised that if this isn't over soon Hook may push Emma right into Regina's arms. Regina pulled Emma off her then with a finger lift her head by the chin till they were looking into each other's eyes, then she smiled and hugged Emma, Emma smiled, then they walked into the next room, sat on the couch, and started talking. Stacy turned, feeling sad about her life, and the fact that she would never have anyone to care about her the way Emma and Regina did about each other. Stacy wallowed in her depression, and walked away. She walked all night and never went back to the inn.

She walked until Granny's opened and she went in for breakfast. She sat there, wallowing until Emma and Regina came in. Regina asked her, "What now?"

Stacy put on a brave, confident face to hide her depression that she has lived with since age 4, and her anxiety over the potion, turned to them, smiled, and said, "What? No 'hi'? No 'how are you'?"

Regina, getting impatient, snapped back, "Listen, we have jumped through all your hoops to get our son back so don't get cute with me or I'll knock that smile right off your face, now tell me! What do we do now?"

Stacy, more serious now, surrendered, "Ok ok. Well, we enjoy the day. Emma can go be with her husband while you and Snow go play together. Gold is not needed for this next part so he is off the hook. We only ever needed him to help collect ingredients. This evening we will meet at Gold's lab and make the last potion but we will need you to bring the Charmings for The Essence of Life or at least their blood. The fresher the better. Then we will make two batches, add them together, add true love, and a fresh fertilized egg, any species of fowl will do. Then stir for ½ an hour, let it cool, separate, pour off into bottles, and let sit in moonlight every night until the full moon, then we get your son back, and I take the leftovers. Say, 5 o'clock in Gold's lab?"

Emma and Regina sat at another table and had their breakfast. They talked for an hour or so then Emma excused herself, and went to Hook to be with her husband, where she didn't let him ruin the mood by opening his mouth and starting a fight, and instead grabbed him, threw him up against the wall, kissed him then proceeded to have her way with him.

Regina visited Snow for a while, and held baby Neal, and rocked him in her arms, and reminisced about Henry.

After Emma and Hook were done, Hook opened his mouth and just as she feared it became a fight, they couldn't go 10 minutes after they finished and Hook had to start a fight. Emma could not see Hook's side of things and could not see how he could not understand that she would move heaven and earth to save her son. To Hook, Henry was already dead and Emma needed to move on. To Emma, this potion ment the chance to have her son back, so Hook was basically asking her to choose between him and Henry and Emma tried to make it clear that even if dead, Henry comes first.

Emma got dressed and left to go find Regina. Emma got to Snow's house and saw Regina with baby Neal in her arms, feeding him a bottle and rocking him, and again she was overcome with emotion and wanting so desperately to have another a baby, then she looked at Regina and realised so did she. As she looked into Regina's eyes, she saw the same hunger, the same unquenchable urge to be a mother again. When they get Henry back, he would be leaving for collage in a couple of years and they would both be childless. Emma wished for a moment that there was some way they could both have their hearts filled again, the way they had with Henry.

It was getting near 5 o'clock and Emma walked over to Regina, stroked her hair with one hand and with the other, using a finger, poked at the babys nose. Then Emma told her they had to go.

At Gold's lab, Emma and Regina mixed the final potion as Stacy explained what to do. They poured the potion into the corpse's eyes, took a crystal, and dragged it from the corpse's belly button to his mouth, and the corpse opened his eyes. They touched the crystal between the corpse's eyes, and a light came from them to the crystal, and they took the crystal, and set it aside. They mixed some water with lavender and sage, like making tea, and added some honey, stirred it with the crystal, the light left the crystal, and the water glowed, and they poured the water into two bottles to cool.

They passed the the rutilated quartz on each of the corpse's chakras, starting low and moving up, and on the head it glowed. They poured some fresh cider, dropped the rutilated quartz into the cider, and stirred with a bamboo stirrer, then poured the cider off into two bottles. It was nearly the new moon at midnight, they started mixing the potions to make two separate batches of the potion. In one, they added a drop of Snow's blood, and a drop of True Love, then in the other, they put a drop of David's blood, and a drop of True Love. They stirred them well, strained them, poured them into a cauldron together at the same time, added another drop of True Love, a fertilized egg, then stirred well. The potion was done. Now all that was left was to pour it off, let it separate, bottle it, then leave it out every night, and bring it in before dawn till the full moon, then they could use it.

Stacy sighed, "Well, you are free. Other than putting the potion out each night and bringing it each morning, never letting it touch the sun, you are free to go back to your lives until the full moon, then the potion will be ready and we can bring your son back any time after that."


	10. Chapter 10

Emma went back to Hook, who had it rough for a while there and would not let it go easy, so there were a few arguments, and Emma was realising just how much she was missing Regina.

Meanwhile, Regina went back to her big, empty house and was all alone, and again, she cried. In part over losing Henry, and in part over being alone. After two days, Emma and Regina had started to hang out during the day, and then Emma went home to Hook at night. Emma and Regina felt so comfortable around each other that they could not help it, they just needed to be around each other. On day three, Snow hung out with them for a few hours, but she started to feel uncomfortable because of how Regina and Emma were looking at each other. Snow pulled Emma to one side and asked a bit forcefully, "What are you doing? I thought you were only into Hook?"

Emma responded, "What do you mean? Regina and I are just friends. Yes we are closer then any two friends in history. Closer than family, closer than if we were a couple but we are still, just friends."

Snow tore into Emma with a rant, "That is not the way you are looking at her. You are looking at her like you are about to tear her clothes off and have at her right here with god and everybody watching. You're eyeing her like a starving man would eye a steak on a full plate of food. You need to stop it right this instant. For god's sake Emma, control yourself. What do you intend to do, leave Hook for her? I can't believe you. What did that witchy woman do to you?"

Emma angrily replied, "Stacy did not do anything except help Regina and I get closer. It was all to save Henry, and now that the potion is complete, on the full moon we will have Henry back. And though Regina and I will always be close. Now with Henry back, we will be able to pretty much go back to the way things were. Besides, Regina is lonely, and I miss her a lot too. She needs me until Henry is back, and I need her until the effects of what we went through together dissipate a little. We are doing nothing wrong. We are not even sleeping together anymore."

While trying to control her voice so Regina couldn't hear, Snow snapped angrily at Emma, "What?! Emma you didn't?

Emma, a bit startled, exclaimed, "What?! Ew, no. The closest we ever got to that was when I placed my hand on her butt while we were asleep. No, I mean we shared the same bed, as in sleep."

Snow was relieved, and spoke more quietly now, "Good. But Emma, you keep making googly eyes at each other. You look like a couple of horny teens."

Emma followed up with, "Stacy assured me that it will dissipate with time, but until we have Henry back, we still need each other.

Snow let it drop, and they went back to Regina. ½ an hour later, Snow left. Emma and Regina's feelings did start to dissipate, so they went to Stacy to ask if that would be a problem.

Stacy used her magic computer and assured them, "No, the feelings were heightened unnaturally by you trying to love each other for all the wrong reasons, and the time you spent together and the magic that put you in each other's heads, so yes, your love is true love but it is just a spark. That will be plenty. You have 8 more days. Just enjoy your lives to the best of your ability and trust your hearts that it will all work out."

Emma and Hook were not arguing as much now, her feelings for him were growing again, things between them were heating up again, but you could still see the longing in their eyes whenever Emma or Regina looked at each other. And you could see them smile whenever they heard the other's name. Hook could tell her heart was divided but could not figure out what to do. So he went to Stacy and asked her how to fix Emma.

Stacy retorted, "There is nothing to fix. You will get the old Emma back in time, but it will be a few months after Henry is back before it will happen, so just chill out and trust that your love for her is real enough to get through this. Just wait 7 more days and you will start to get the old Emma back.

Hook was unhappy, but left it at that, knowing how much they all wanted Henry back. The less they fought, the more amoris Emma and Hook got, but Emma still spent all day, every day with Regina, and Hook let her, thinking the worst was behind him. Even Emma and Regina were convinced the worst was behind them, that it would all be back to normal soon. They even started spending more time together as a family, Snow, Hook, David, Emma, and Regina.

Then, while Emma was with Hook, and Regina was wallowing in loneliness, getting drunk at Granny's, Stacy came in, and sat beside her. They traded stories, bought a bottle, and kept drinking on foot after closing. Regina was starting to understand how Stacy felt, and gently offered, "For what it is worth, you will always have a friend in me."

Stacy was grateful, and replied with, "Thank you. And you are the only one."

Regina came back with, "Not in this town, here you will find all sorts and you will find lots of friends, especially if you can bring Henry back. You will have people bowing before you as a goddess."

Stacy blushed, "Not a goddess, just a genius. Don't forget to stay sober before the big unveiling. The potion will be ready day after tomorrow just after midnight."

Then Stacy staggered back to the inn, and Regina walked home.

When it was time, the whole town came to watch, and Stacy could really feel the pressure. Then came midnight, and Stacy told them to wait another 5 minutes, just to make sure. They did, then Stacy used a big stone bowl, filled with water, added a drop of true love then a large bottle of Essence of Life, took a drop, and revived Henry's flesh. Stacy had Regina summon Henry's soul, and put it into the binding potion. Emma poured the binding potion into the bowl, and Regina poured the mix over Henry's body, and in his mouth, while Emma held his mouth each kissed Henry's forehead at the same time, for the added boost from true love's kiss. Henry glowed so bright they all had to look away.

When they could look back, Henry breathed deeply, opened his eyes, exclaimed, "Mom!" and died again. The whole time, Stacy was on her magic computer, she explained, "It is just as I feared, Henry's death was an act of fate to bring me here, but never fear, I have a plan B."

The crowd started to thin and Regina was exasperated, "Oh great, more kumbaya with Emma"

Stacy explained plainly, "No, you already have true love. So plan B, is a goddess so powerful that she can breath life into the dirt, and bring forth any form of life she can imagine. She can breath life on a dinosaur fossil, and revive the dinosaur. And her power would come from within not from the universe outside her so her powers would be just as powerful outside the town line."

Emma spoke up, "I guess that is me then. What do I do?"

Stacy continued, "No, thank you, but no. Only a child born of an immaculate conception can wield such power. And as you can't find a virgin in this world over the age of 14, I had to figure out another way, and it turns out that it will also work if the woman who has never given birth, is by natural or magical means, sterile. It uses the breath of life, which I'll explain in a moment, and as only a woman can wield the breath of life, and the women must have true love, that means that it will have to be you two."

Regina impatiently hissed, "We can't wait 9 months for the baby to be born, and another 14 to 18 years for the child to grow up!"

Stacy reassured her, "That's the beauty of this. Where it is a magical pregnancy, you should be able to wield the power of the child at about the 3rd week of pregnancy. And no, you won't need to do anything hinky or kinky. See, the breath of life is a power made from The Essence of Life that is basically a magical defibrillator paddle. The magic is limited, so if the person is dead to long, or if the body is to badly damaged, then they can't be revived. Only a female can wield that power. The power can only be passed as a power mother to daughter, though the power can be used on anyone, male or female. If you think of the power as an unlimited supply of batteries and the energy to charge them, then a person with the power could pass a single breath as a battery to any female blood relative, and they would be able to use it, or in your case after you get Regina pregnant, you will have created a daughter, so you will lose the power, but as you will still be wired for the power, the female family member you give the power to, can give it back. And you would again have an unlimited supply of breaths of life, so you could get her pregnant again. However, there is a small catch."

Regina cut her off, "Here it comes. I knew it. What do you want us to do now?"

Stacy continued, "As I was saying, the catch is that you need to use blood magic too, or it will fail. Regina will be pregnant with a clone of herself with no magic, and you, Emma, will still have the power and still be able to get her pregnant again but it will never be able to be the goddess you need. So you gotta get it right the first time. This means you need to take blood from both of you, put the others blood on your lips, kiss each other through a piece of paper, then burn the paper over the blood mix and stir it together. Then you use the same technique to pass the power to family, only with a different placement of the hands, and with the blood mix on Emma's hands and mouth. See, you would place a hand on her face and one under her neck until you start breathing life into her, like CPR, then you back away a bit, turn to look her in the eyes and move the hand from her neck to her face. But for this, you will place a hand on her belly and one under her neck, and you will move the other hand to her belly, but you need to decide if you want your daughter to have all your knowledge. Not your memories that created the knowledge, just the knowledge. It won't come to her right away or all at once, but it will all be there up to the moment of her conception. And if you do, her daughters, and their daughters and so on will be born with the power of the breath of life, and the knowledge of all the mothers before her, back to you. I'll give you some time to decide if a daughter, who is the most powerful force for good ever, is worth getting Henry back. Oh, and a child born of an immaculate conception, will be extremely resistant to the temptations of evil. You decide." Then Stacy walked out.


	11. Chapter 11

Emma and Regina talked about it for hours. While they were talking, Stacy, back at the inn, added a drop of True Love to the potion she made earlier. Emma and Regina were both now dubious, they had talked all night.

"The next morning, they found Stacy having breakfast at Granny's, and, having agreed in for a penny in for a pound, that they had no other choice, they agreed.

After breakfast, they went to the lab. Stacy pulled out two potion bottles, poured one into a golden chalice, added some Essence of Life and ordered, "Emma, drink this one." Then pouring the other into the golden chalice, told them told them, "You have true love, but it is only a spark, this potion will be like gasoline to that spark, temporarily inflaming your love to an inferno. Now, if you want to keep it there, then you will have to apply the effort but if you don't, it will fade back to a spark. But for this to work, you must willingly accept the potion, and then Emma, you can get Regina pregnant. Oh, did you decide if you want to have the baby to have your knowledge?"

They agreed, "Ok then you will need to put a drop of your own blood on the other's 3rd eye. And when you transfer the power, you will have to do it twice. Once to break the curse on her womb, then with the blood to knock her up. When you transfer the power, you will focus the energy through your eyes, and hands as well."

Emma placed a hand under Regina's neck as she lay on the bench and held her head at an angle that allowed her to breathe into Regina's lungs like CPR, then placed the other hand on Regina's bare belly, placed her mouth on Regina's, and slowly started to breathe the Breath of Life into her, pulled away, looked her in the eyes and placed her other hand on Regina's belly, while still breathing the Breath of Life into her. Emma channeled the power through her hands and eyes and Regina's belly glowed, there was a sound of breaking glass and Stacy exclaimed with satisfaction, "The curse is lifted, you can now get her pregnant."

So they each drank the potion to inflate their love, first Emma then Regina. Emma pulled out a knife and they each cut their hand and bled into a cup. They placed a finger print of their own blood on the other's 3rd eye then on the other's lips and kissed through a piece of paper, then burned it over the blood as they mixed the blood together, Regina put the blood mixture on Emma's lips as Emma spread it on her hands, Emma placed a hand under Regina's neck and doing as before only this time she placed her blood soaked lips on Regina's, and her blood soaked hands on Regina's neck and belly. An energy came, not just from her hands and eyes, but also from the spot of blood on her forehead. And with that, Regina was pregnant.

Afterwards, Stacy remarked, "This baby will have so much power she can tell fate to stuff it."

Regina asked, "Does this mean that I can bring back Robin?"

Stacy sadly replied, "No, I'm sorry but I don't know how to time travel, and his soul is dead. I would need to chop off a finger or toe or something then treat it to preserve the soul, then I could use it to reconstitute his soul, but that would require time travel, and that is too dangerous. You could make a copy of him, but you would always know it was just a copy."

Regina was saddened by this news, the hope of getting Robin back that had briefly flooded her mind was now gone. She was tempted to strike this stranger for giving her such hope only to dash it a moment later, but she looked at Emma's mouth, and while she kept thinking about hitting Stacy, her gaze was transfixed on Emma's mouth. She could not stop thinking about kissing Emma.

Regina was a bit confused and while looking at Emma's mouth, asked, "Why is it that I suddenly want to kiss Emma even with our blood on her lips?"

Stacy explained, "Well I didn't want to tell you, but it appears that one or both of you have some latent attraction to your own gender."

Emma asked, "Is that why, lately, I've felt torn between Regina and Hook?"

Stacy explained, "About that, I don't know how to remove a heart, but I think I know how to separate your love for Hook and your love for Regina, and then with the two ½'s of the heart, grow two hearts, then from one heart, grows a new body, memories and all, and then you won't be torn. Your love for Regina will be given a life of its own, and that woman will become Regina's new wife. Think it over and get back to me. You have 3 weeks to decide, that's how long it takes for the brain to form and with it, the powers. That's when I will be able to separate your loves,and make each love whole."

Emma and Regina thought on it. They even talked about it for hours. They batted the idea around like a kitten with a ball of string. Emma would have it best as she won't have to choose, but then she still needed to decide if she wanted Regina that way. Could Emma love Regina in a deep and meaningful manner that would be deep enough and meaningful enough to build a forever ending on? Especially if sex was not a part of the equation? Regina, on the other hand had to decide if she wanted a woman as her wife. For Regina, it didn't seem nearly as complicated. She had no idea, she had the same problem of, could she build a forever ending with a woman? Especially if the relationship didn't involve sex.

Emma went home to Hook, and Regina went home to her place. Hook could tell that Emma was distracted, and tried to coax her to open up. Emma finally broke down and told him about her dilemma and the possible solution. Hook was not pleased at the notion of sharing his wife. He suggested that they destroy the other heart afterwards. Emma and Hook argued about it and the more he pissed Emma off, the more she thought maybe she could find something in a relationship of that nature to love as much as she loves Hook, or at least loved Hook. During these arguments she was starting to question why she loved him. Eventually she got Hook to reluctantly accept that it was not his decision and that it was between her and Regina.

The next day, Emma and Regina found Stacy and they were still unable to decide, but they were leaning towards no.

Stacy asked, "You know there are such things as the platonic lesbian right? There are people who are emotionally attracted to a gender and sexualy atracted to another. Your dilemma sounds to me like you are not sexualy atracted to each other enough to want a relationship like that, but there are loads of platonic lesbian couples. They each figure out a solution that works best for them. Some never have sex again," They both made a noise of disapproval, "Or do it themselves. You can figure that out but you can share your hearts with each other. Metaphorically that is. I just need to know what you want me to do."

Stacy looked at Regina, "Your heart has a hole in it that this could help fill."

Then she looked at Emma, "And your heart is torn between two loves. So you two ladies need to think on it. Oo, oo I just had a thought. I was watching Legend of the Seeker and in that, the confessor could not have the man she loved because he would lose his soul, so they found their relationships equivalent to sex in sparring. That allowed them the intimacy of a relationship and contact without the danger of him losing his soul. What you would need is your relationships equivalent to that. A substitute that will allow you to be a couple and not have to deal with the uncomfortable idea of sex with each other."

Emma and Regina left and went to talk some more. They talked all day and most of the night.


	12. Chapter 12

They found Stacy again the next day, and tentatively agreed, "We will do it."

Stacy warned, "You do know that I won't know wich heart is which, and once the heart is in you, it will be magically bound to you, and the love of that heart will be your love for the rest of your life right? So if we do this there is a 50/50 chance you will be the one to love Regina, and the way this works, you will not know which one you are the, real or the copy. Only I will know and I will never tell, so decide first if you want to be the one to love her. If you accept that, you will be the one to love her, then wich ever one of you loves her, you will be happy. Can you do that?"

Emma still, and now more reluctant, replied, "I don't know."

Stacy, trying not to be too aggressive, ordered them, "Well, come back when you do, and we will prepare."

Emma went to talk to Hook, and Regina and Stacy talked for a while, then Regina went to see Snow, to tell her she was about to have two daughters instead of one. Snow was not happy, more so because she had to hear it from Regina, but she accepted that this will make Emma, Regina, and Hook, happy. So she resigned herself to the fact that she was about to have two daughters, and if Emma married Regina, then her stepmother would become her daughter in law. She shook her head to shake the thought out. It was too creepy and confusing for her to understand, and she didn't want to. It was enough to know her daughter would be happy.

The next day, they found Stacy again, and Emma, sounding far more sure than she actually was, agreed, "Ok I'll do it."

Stacy asked, "Are you sure? Because once this is done it can't be undone. Both versions of you will be the real you, and will want your life so you will need to figure out how that will work before we do this. You have just under 3 weeks to figure it out, don't rush into anything. You know this means that Henry will have three mommy's right?"

Emma and Regina went off to work on the logistics of having two Emma's, each wanting to have one life, the same life. And how that might work.

Later on, Emma went to see Snow. Snow was not happy, but accepted that it was what Emma needed to be happy, so she gave Emma a big hug, told her she loved her, and then started planning Emma and Regina's wedding which, at this point, only existed in Snow's head.

Day 4, Emma and Regina were hanging out at Granny's and talking about baby names, Emma suggested, "I think we should name her Daisy."

Regina countered, "Well I was thinking about Calliope or Regina jr. but I can't stop falling back on Hope."

Emma was disgusted by the first name, "You are not going to name my daughter Calliope. I will have the whole town burn you at the stake first, and I will fight you if you try to name her Regina jr. I'm not sure about Hope either,"

Regina rebounded with, "Well at least I didn't suggest my childhood friend's name, Rowena, although I am a bit partial to Clementine."

Emma shouted, "Oh hell no! You are not naming my daughter Clementine!"

Regina said, "Well then I guess I keep coming back to Hope. All you Charmings are all about hope right? You live and breathe hope. You defeat all the bad guys with hope. It is a nice name. A strong name. A name that insures she will be a hero."

Emma asked, "And what if it was a boy? Then what? Hope doesn't work as a boy's name."

Regina pondered a moment and went with, "Well I didn't think of boy's names. I just assumed it was a girl. I don't have any boy names. I only came up with Henry because of my father. I tell you what, if it is a boy you can name him and if it is a girl then I'll name her Hope,"

As Emma was about to speak, Stacy came in, overheard them, and butted in, "Where this child is the product of two women, there is no Y chromosome to donate, so it will be a girl. And with how much of you was transferred, and you are both into each other, that means she will have a 92% chance of being bi, and if she has a wife, then the wife will probably be gay, and there will be a 73% chance that that child will be gay. The odds in the following generation of getting a straight daughter will be the same as a straight couple having a gay child. But unless the woman in any of those pregnancies is a virgin, there is no chance of there being another goddess born, unless it is true love then until the chain of true love is broken, they will all be born with a staggering amount of power, and where the power is a part of her like her heart, or lungs. She, unlike you, will be able to make lots more babies. Chew on that."

Regina invited stacy to sit and join them, and they talked for hours. Then Stacy admitted, "You know, I figured out earlier on that the potion would not work on your son, and that's why I pushed so hard to get you to love each other. I wasn't expecting you to develop a romantic attraction to each other, but it worked out the same. Plan B for baby. The potion works fine, but like I said, it is not foolproof, so the only way to revive Henry was to create a goddess so great that not even fate had power over her. And that way, no matter what happens to me, the world will be better off then when I came into it. I was thinking of using the rest of The Essence of Life to help the world, but there is not enough to go around, and I can't make more. I can dilute it and multiply its power to stretch it out, but even so it won't last long. I won't be much help. If I give the people hope, then I run out of potion, they will be worse off than before, but with your daughter, if I were to die now, I would know my life had been worth it. And from your daughter will spring a new race of amazons."

Emma, starting to get put off by Stacy, and worrying where this was going, spoke up, "What? I don't recall any real amazons. The only place that amazon women exist is in stories."

Stacy started to rant, "That is where you are wrong, this same magic was used in this same way by two women 5000 years ago. They created the first amazon, and she had babies with a woman, then they had babies with women, and before long their population flourished. The first seeds of homophobia sprouted when the amazons would seduce women away from their husbands. So the men and the amazons went to war, and 3000 years later, they were nearly exterminated. They even moved out onto an island to protect themselves until there was just 1 left, and she was a heterosexual, so she passed the story down to her daughters, and their daughters and shortly before world war II, there was only one left. But she was gay, and she tried to recreate the amazons. From her came 4 daughters, and they wanted to fight in the war to stop Hitler, but just as their mother was softening to the idea, the Nazis bombed the island, and the amazons were no more. You know your daughter might be immortal if christened with the potion True Love before she takes her first breath. She will wield powers so great, that only a god could have more power, so be careful. She may want a friend, one that she sees on tv, and breaths into the dirt, then you have a klingon or a vulcan running around as alive as you are.

"See, an amazon is partly a culture that is now lost, but mostly it is a power that allows women to breed with other women, giving them the power of the Breath of Life, that allows them to save, and heal while making them strong, to fight threats and protect the world. Your daughter will be the first true amazon in nearly 100 years, and she will be their goddess. In fact, I know a magic that allows her to bind to the souls of those who were her mark and worship her. And when there are 100 worshipers, she will become a goddess with the power to breathe into existence a heaven for her followers, and every amazon from her, will have a place in her light and her glory, and you will see the world change for the better with hope, love and light. And it will all be because of you. Don't you just love it. She will be raised with your values and you can teach her to be the best that she can be. You can prepare her to be the goddess the people that spring forth from her need to lead the world, not by force or command but by example."

Emma and Regina were both taken aback by this thought and a bit overwhelmed. Emma stammered like she wanted to say something, as her face flashed back and forth between fear and rage. She clenched her fists, slid out of the booth, and stormed off in a huff.

As Regina's rage surged to the surface and consumed her, she glared at Stacy and screamed, "How dare you, you little bitch! You had this planned all along. I'd say you killed Henry but I know better. This is why you were playing us? Why, I ought to roast you with a fireball right now. Get out of my way before I do something I might enjoy." Stacy quickly stood up. "How dare you play with people's lives like that?! You ever think we might want some say in the matter?!"

Stacy was on the defensive, a bit scared, and confused. She honestly could not see what she said or did as wrong, and she tried to defend her actions, "I told you it would take a child this powerful to bring back your son. I only left out that she would be destined to be a goddess over a new breed of heroes and save the world."

Regina was still enraged, "You have been playing us this whole time. What's next? Do you like pulling our strings? Well the strings have just been cut!"


	13. Chapter 13

Regina felt abandoned by Emma, she walked home to cool off and process what was said. When she got home and went inside, she saw Emma crying. Regina went over to her and asked, "What's wrong?"

Emma tried to talk through the tears, "I don't know. I'm not sad but I can't stop crying. I'm pissed, scared and overwhelmed but I'm not sad. So why can't I stop crying?!"Regina comforted Emma, "You said it, you are overwhelmed."

She sat on the steps beside Emma and squeezed her shoulders as if to hug her from behind, "Look on the bright side, our daughter will be powerful, and strong and will have a future that will change the world, and with my looks and your heart there is nothing she can't face, but until then she will be just a little girl. Our little girl. And we will love her, and care for her as if she were any normal child."

Emma smiled, "Where does she get off, meddling in our lives like that?"

Regina, trying to help make it all better, just said, "She wanted to change the world and didn't think who it would effect or how."

Emma, starting small talk now, "So how does it feel to know our daughter will be a goddess and will be the mother of a new race of amazons to change, protect, and save the world?"

Regina tried to find the right words to say, "Well you pretty much summed it up. Overwhelming. There is the terror of dealing with a child that powerful, and what if she doesn't like the rules, and what if we screw up as parents. I mean, neither one of us did too good until Henry taught us how, what if we screw her up and make a monster. There is anger at Stacy for manipulating us, and gratitude that we will soon have our son back. Then there is what will the town think of her? Will they fear her? I don't know. It is all too much. What about you?"

Emma was struggling to figure it out, "About the same, except I'm also trying to figure out my future relationships too. There will soon be two of me."

Regina simply replied, "I know the feeling, or have you forgotten that I have a twin now too."

Emma was more calm now, "What a pair we make. I am scared. What are we going to do?"

Regina resigned herself to the future they were headed for, baby and all. "I don't know, but as you are the one who went through pregnancy before, I will be relying on you a lot."

Emma was pushing for an answer that Regina didn't have, "I know, but I meant after the pregnancy. We need to decide where to live, how to raise the baby, whether or not to tell her about her destiny, or about how to reproduce woman to woman like she was created. Oh yeah, and whether or not to christen her with The True Love when she is born to make her immortal. We don't have the right to choose that for her do we?"

Regina was trying to sway Emma, "I don't know. If she will be such a powerful force for good, then shouldn't we give her all the power that we can so she can do as much as she can?"

Emma started to worry again,"Well, speaking as the savior I think I know the burden of a destiny that you didn't choose for yourself. I'm worried that she might resent us for making that decision for her. What if she grows up to hate us?"

Regina was worried, "I think we should be more worried about what kind of things she will give life to growing up? What kind of dragons and monsters will she create with her power that we will have to fight?"

Emma pondered for a moment and responded, "Good point. I haven't thought of that. Are we really ready for this? Did we really think it through?"

Regina, ever the pragmatist faced the the truth, "Well, it is a bit too late to take it back now. Soon we will be parents and we need to start preparing."

Emma confessed, "I don't know how much of this is us and how much is the potion we took, but I love you."

Regina was trying to be tender and caring while trying to be strong enough to drag Emma through the pregnancy when it should be Emma helping her, "I love you too, Emma. So let's get up. Now in 2 and ½ weeks we will have Henry back, and 8 months later, we will have a daughter to raise."

Then it dawned on Emma, "I just remembered, how will we explain the new baby to Henry? The rest of the family is going to have a hard enough time with it but what about Henry? Will he like the new baby? Will he get along with the new baby? Will the new baby fit into the new story or will she be for this world only? And just how much power will she have anyway?"

Regina was showing an unusual level of restraint, "Slow down. There will be plenty of time for all that. Let's just take it one step at a time. I'm sure if we give this baby all the love we are able to give it, it will turn out fine."

They looked into each other's eyes, and each knew they both wanted to kiss the other, so they shook their heads to shake the thought from their mind, and they went into the living room to talk some more

Day 5. Regina was starting to notice the symptoms of being pregnant. For starters, her powers were going all wonky. She could not control them much, they could both feel the power incubating inside her, and they were scared of it. It was so powerful, but they tried to keep each other strong enough to believe the baby in Regina's belly would be good.

They found Stacy, and though they were still pissed, they made it clear that they still needed her, so they started planning the splitting of Emma to allow her heart to be pure for each of her loves instead of divided.

Stacy, questioning their motives, decided to help, "As this is not the Essence of Life potion, you can conjure ingredients, but we won't be able to use it till you have control over the baby's powers."

Regina asked, "Why would I have the baby's powers?"

Stacy informed them, "It is a byproduct of magical babies, especially magically conceived, that the mother to be is able to protect the baby by wielding the baby's powers until birth. I don't know exactly why, it just is."

Emma and Regina were still steamed at Stacy so they drove around for a while talking, and they worried about the baby. They decided to unwind and vent so, they got a tub of ice cream and picked up a couple comedy's, went home to Regina's and binged the movies while eating ice cream. Other than the occasional pee break, They spent the night laughing and crying and sat there on the couch sharing a blanket. They would occasionally talk over the movies about things associated with hating Stacy and not trusting her and how upset they were at the betrayal. They also talked about their fear for the baby's well being and future and even being afraid of the baby. They even talked about where to put the nursery, and in which of their houses, how they would share custody, and who would babysit. A couple times they even talked about potential playmates for the baby, like her uncle Neal. They held hands, held each other and comforted each other, as they sat in front of the TV. Emma laid her head on Regina's shoulder and Regina laid her head on Emma's. They eventually fell asleep on the couch and slept through the last movie. They slept with Emma laying over Regina for most of the night.

In the morning, they were woken by a loud banging at the door. They got up, and Emma went to the door. It was Hook. Hook was not happy that his wife spent the night with Regina again, and started in with, "You are going to have to make a choice!"

Emma, not liking ultimatums, said something she immediately regretted but could not bring herself to take back. She threw the fact that Regina was pregnant with her baby in his face, and told him about how they were getting Henry back, and that she hates ultimatums and if he was going to make her choose, then she would choose Regina, in spite. Hook was angry and tried to push the matter but Emma stood her ground and told Hook to leave. Then Emma slammed the door in his face. Hook got all huffy and stormed off to lick the wounds to his ego.

The rest of Emma and Regina's day was about the same as all the months they had lived together while they were making the potion. They spent all day together, only Emma kept doting on Regina and everyone stared. Often, Regina would feel light headed and dizzy or like she was overheating and this made her worry that something might be wrong with her and/or the baby, but Emma tried to keep her calm and comfort her to make it all better. Every time Regina complained, Emma felt helpless and desperate to make it better. She remembered her own pregnancy and thought it would be ok or maybe it was more that. She wished and hoped it would be ok because every time Regina complained, Emma's first response was to panic. It took all the self control and a fair dose of self delusion and denial to keep calm herself. Emma was as scared for this baby as she was of this baby.

Day 11, Regina went to get up off the couch and winced, then a second later doubled over from a sharp pain in her belly, lost her balance, fell back onto the couch, and fainted. Emma panicked and ran to Regina's side, where she gently slapped her face trying to wake her up, shouting Regina's name over and over, begging her to wake up. Anyone who had seen her would have been able to tell: she was hysterical and not thinking straight. When regina came to, Emma was so relieved she was able to think clearly, the first clear thought she had was to rush Regina to the car, where her first instinct was to find a doctor, but then she remembered, this is a magical baby made of, and by, magic, so the problem was most likely a magical one, and a doctor couldn't help with that. She thought of going to Gold, but Gold knew less about the magic that made this baby than they did. so Emma resigned herself to the fact that the only person who could help was the one person she didn't want to talk to right now, Stacy.

Emma took Regina to find Stacy and in a panic, barely able to speak at all, let alone clearly, told Stacy what happened "She stood up then doubled over in pain and collapsed. What is wrong?"

Stacy was calm and tried to help, "Well let's see."

She opened her magic computer and pressed a few stones and crystals then tried to comfort and reassure them, "It is as I projected, this baby is infused with an unparalleled power. It is so great that even now before the baby's brain develops to control the power, it is radiating out and messing with your powers. You are suffering from the magical equivalent of radiation poisoning and it is killing you."

This made them panic, but Stacy was still calm and continued, "Relax. If you take it easy for the next week or so till the baby's brain develops, then you will be fine. No exertion! Just plenty of bed rest.

"Emma, this means you will need to take care of her. There will be a lot more pain and dizziness and hot flashes till the baby develops a brain. The symptoms should subside when the baby has a brain to contain and regulate the power. Just don't use any magic. If you do, say try to make a fireball in your current condition, the ball would be so big it would consume the entire town and instantaneously turn it to ash. So behave for another week. You have approximately 10 days till the power is under control, then you can breathe Henry back to life and be one big, happy family. Here."

Stacy handed them an amulet, "This should minimise the harmful symptoms until they pass."

They were relieved to hear Regina will be alright, gave Stacy the obligatory thank you, then left. Emma took Regina to bed, and ordered her to lay down, then put the amulet on her and tried to keep her calm.


	14. Chapter 14

The time crept by so slowly and they thought they were going to lose their minds as Emma tried to help Regina survive the pregnancy. Regina kept trying to get out of bed but usually when she tried, she was met with a searing pain so bad that she had to stay in bed and Emma had to go to the hospital and get a bed pan. Regina got so weak that Emma had to feed her and clean her.

Emma and Regina were terrified. They thought Regina was going to die, so Emma had Stacy come over to keep tabs on Regina. Stacy kept saying it was all ok, she would survive if she would just stop fighting the power inside her belly and just let herself be sick. Her body was fighting to survive the power within her, and fighting that power was only going to kill her.

Day 19, Regina was running a 104.1°F fever, sleeping 16 hours a day, and couldn't even talk any more. Stacy insisted Regina would pull through in a couple days but by now Emma was unsure of a lot of things, including Stacy, and was certain Regina was going to die. She got hysterical and threw Stacy out.

Day 21, Regina had been unconscious for 26 hours. Emma was panicking, Stacy had come by again to check on Regina, and tried to reassure Emma that, "According to my readings, the baby is starting to develop brain cells, so it is a matter of hours and then she should start to get better."

That evening, sure enough, Regina's fever broke.

The next day, she woke up.

It took a couple days till she was back on her feet. She started experimenting with the baby's powers, namely the power to breathe life, it took her 4 and ½ days to get the hang of it, but then she got it. She went to Henry, and with the goddess's powers of life growing in her belly, she breathed the Breath of Life into him, a breath of magic so powerful that even fate couldn't stop her from getting her son back now.

Henry woke up, took a deep breath, and feeling joyous at being back with his family, and having a second chance at life, shouted, "Mom! and mom!"

When he came to, Regina and Emma both hugged Henry so tight that he complained about not being able to breathe. As they hugged him They both began to cry, for they were both so happy to have him back. Henry could not understand what was wrong for from his perspective he was just hit by the car and blacked out, woke up for a moment, said, "Mom!" and blacked out again, and was now waking up again.

To him, no time had passed, but the look on his mothers' faces had him worried. They explained to him all they had gone through these last few months to get him back, and how much they had missed him, and even how he was going to be a big brother. Henry was so sad for what they had had to go through to get him back and was so excited about being a big brother. Then they hugged him again, and again he had to ask for air so they'd let him go.

Now that Henry was back among the living, Emma and Regina took him home to Regina's. They discussed putting him back in school, gave him ice cream and let him do all the stuff they wouldn't have let him do before he died. They were able to start to plan for his future again.

Emma and Regina went to create the two Emma's and Regina took out Emma's heart. Stacy poured a potion over it, rubbed it with some stones, and crystals then chanted. The glowing in the heart separated into two lights. Regina split the heart while Henry buried Emma in sand, all but her mouth with a piece of PVC to breathe. Stacy submerged the two halves of the heart into a potion, chanted, pulled out two whole hearts, poured another potion over Emma, and had Regina reach through the sand to put the heart back. Emma got up out of the sand, exposing another Emma, and Regina put the other heart in that Emma.

Stacy explained, "Right now there is one life split between two bodies, and they will both die if you don't give them both the Breath of Life."

Regina did so, and they took a few minutes to figure out how they feel as opposed to the memory of how they felt, and the Emma that was in love with Regina went home with her. While the other went home to Hook. Due to the help that Stacy had given them thus far with the pregnancy, Emma and Regina agreed that they still needed her, and invited her to stay in town till the child was born. Although the rest of the pregnancy went exactly like any other pregnancy would have.

Both of the Emma's eventually agreed that the Emma that went home to Regina would be Emma 1, and the Emma that went home to Hook would be Emma 2.

With enough exposure to Stacy, they began to understand her, and even like her. So Emma 1 and Regina asked stacy to stick around longer. Stacy eventually became friends with them. They decided that Stacy would be called aunt Stacy, and although Henry never took to it, they expected that the baby would.

As the baby was being born, Emma 1 put a drop of true love on the baby's forehead and she began to glow. When she was fully out she glowed so brightly that everyone had to look away. Eventually, the glow dimmed and faded, and Emma 1, looking at their baby and smiling, hugged Regina's head and kissed her forehead. Stacy never told them that the original Emma was the one who became Emma 1, or got the heart of love for Regina.

They never found out which one was the real Emma, and which one was the copy. As for little baby Hope, well we need to leave something for the next story.


End file.
